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JANUARY 26, 1929
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JANUARY 26, 1929
Zke Cleveland Jduseum of Art HANDBOOK
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COPYRIGHT 1953
THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART
36475
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The format of this Handbook was planned by William E. Ward,
Museum Designer, and prepared by him with the cooperation of
Richard Godfrey, Museum Photographer*
This brief acknowledgment in no way adequately expresses
appreciation of the careful work and the carrying through of the
many details involved.
william m* milliken
Director
foreword
ADE Park, given to the City of Cleveland in 1882 by the first
VV Jeptha H. Wade, was the first of the great inner chain of parks
which add so much to the beauty of the city. At that time an oval-shaped
area facing the lagoon in Wade Park was reserved by the donor, which
at his death passed to his grandson, i, H, Wade, Jr. Only in 1 892 did the
original idea become evident when J. H. Wade, Jr, conveyed this reserve
to certain trustees so that It might be used “for the general purpose of
erecting a building devoted to Art and establishing therein a Museum and
Gallery of Art . . , for the benefit of all the people forever , . /' It was on
this land that The Cleveland Museum of Art was to be eventually erected,
Hinnaan B, Hurlbut in 1881, John Huntington in 1889, and Horace Kelley
in 1 890 bequeathed funds for an art museum, each presumably without
the knowledge of the others. By happy chance nothing was done at the
time because of various circumstances. Meanwhile the money accumulated
and in 1913, when the trustees of the latter two trusts became interlocking,
a museum was incorporated: The Cleveland Museum of Art, with the Hinman
B, Hurlbut Fund an endowment in the new Museum. Seven-tenths of the cost
of the building was financed by The John Huntington Art arid Polytechnic
Trust and three-tenths by The Horace Kelley Art Foundation, The new
Museum was formally opened to the public on June 6, 191 6, in the building
so beautifully designed by the architects Hubbeil and Benes, and the
architectural consultant, Edmund B, Wheelright of Boston,
The Museum has always been □ privately supported institution and the
two original foundation trusts. The John Huntington Art and Polytechnic
Trust and The Horace Kelley Art Foundation have, from the beginning,
made annual grants far operating expenses. In the early years The John
Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust gave additional monies for the
purchase of works of art and in later years large sums for maintenance
and the improvement of the building. Upon that sound structure, the
development of the Museum has been based.
The Museum had not been opened before the first of many generous
bequests was made; Mr. Dudley P. Allen, a founding Trustee, left a purchase
V
fund of $150,000 in 1915 and the following year Mary Warden Harkness
bequeathed a fund in memory of Charles W. Harkness, as well as porce¬
lains and paintings. Through the years gifts have poured in upon the Museum
with Cleveland’s characteristic generosity. Worcester R, Warner gave
money to create a collection of Oriental art, and at the time of the opening
of the Museum, the Severance Collection of arms and armor, the tapestries
given in memory of Dr. Dudley P. Allen, and only a short time later the
J. H. Wade, Jr. Collection of paintings, initiated a great tradition of giving.
However, if was in 1920 that J, H, Wade, Jr, established a large trust
fund, the income from which has made it possible for the Museum to enrich
its collections by purchasing works of art for every department.
Mr. and Mrs, Ralph T. King, Mrs, Leonard C, Hanna, William G. Mather,
D. Z. Norton, Francis F, Prentiss, John L. Severance, Edward L, Whlttemore,
Mrs. Edward B. Greene, Mrs. R, Henry Norweb, and others made possible
the purchase of outstanding works of art. John L. Severance and Mrs.
Francis F. Prentiss began the formation of collections destined to become
two of the greatest bequests ever received by the Museum. It is impossible
to mention all the munificent gifts: Mrs. Henry A, Everett in 1922 started
the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection of American paintings;
the Ellen Garretson Wade Memorial Collection of lace was given by her
children in 1923; the Margaret Guayle Kerruish Memorial Collection of
English silver in 1934; the Frances McIntosh Sherwin Collection of lace in
1936. Commodore Louis D. Beaumont gave the important Watteau £a
Danse dans an Pavilion and other paintings in 1936; Hollis French of Boston
presented his remarkable collection of American silver in 1940, and in the
same year came the Bequest of James Parmelee. Finally in 1942, Groce
Rainey Rogers gave the wonderful Rousseau de la Rottiere room with its
furniture. That year was climactic in that the Bequest of Julia Morgan
Marlatt established the substantial Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund,
the income from this fund to be used for the purchase of paintings, and
the magnificent John L, Severance Collection also became the Museum's
possession and in his Will he bequeathed funds to establish the John L.
Severance Fund for purchase. It was also in 1 942 that the first of many
gifts from Hanna Fund was received, which gifts have enabled the Museum
to purchase great works of art in every field. Two years later by the
Bequest of Elisabeth Severance Prentiss, her beautiful collection, together
with a very substantial unrestricted fund, came to the Museum,
In late 1957 the magnificent bequest of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. which
includes great works of art, established large funds for purchase and for
VI
operating expenses. A complete catalogue of Mr. Hanna’s many gifts is
now in preparation.
There have been many other donors: George P. Bickford, Mrs. Benjamin
P. Bole, Mrs. Henry White Cannon, William Carlisle, Mrs. Frederick S. Fish,
Mrs. James Albert Ford, Friends of the Museum, the children of Mr. and
Mrs. Frank H. Ginn, Mrs. Thomas S. Grasselli, Edward B. Greene, Grover
Higgins, Miss Helen Humphreys, Mrs. Albert S. Ingalls, George S. Kendrick,
Harry D. Kendrick, Mrs. William G. Mather, Mrs. Malcolm L. McBride, Mr.
and Mrs. Severance A. Millikin, Mr. and Mrs. Matthias Plum, The Print Club
of Cleveland, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Milton C. Rose, Mr. and Mrs. Michael
Straight, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Tishman, Miss Helen B. Warner, Mr. and Mrs.
Lewis B. Williams, John Wise and Mr. and Mrs. Samuel D. Wise. All cannot
be mentioned, but this Handbook is a tribute to the donors who have made
possible great collections of which a small selection is reproduced here.
The growth of the collections created the necessity for additional gallery
space and the most effective New Wing designed by Messrs. Hays and
Ruth, architects, was dedicated in 1958 as an answer to the growth of
the collections.
The life blood of a museum are its acquisitions and through individual
gifts and through purchase funds the Cleveland Museum has developed
greatly. This Handbook is a tribute to those who by their gifts have made
this progress possible. WILLIAM M. MILLIKEN
A list of the Purchase Funds is here appended:
Dudley P. Allen Fund
James Albert Ford Memorial Fund
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
Delia E. Holden Fund
L. E. Holden Fund
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Fund
James Parmelee Fund
John L. Severance Fund
Norman O. and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund
J. H. Wade Fund
Cornelia Blakemore Warner Fund
Edward L. Whittemore Fund
VII
Handbook numbers are used fo iden¬
tify objects on exhibition which are
referred to in this book.
EGYPTIAN AND CLASSICAL ART
The Egyptian collection is divided into two parts: a study collection arranged in
an educational sequence based on the requirements of the Cleveland Public School
system, and a primary collection of artistically important objects arranged in
chronological order. Pre-dynastic Egypt (4000-3200 B.C.) is represented by numer¬
ous artifacts: flint knives, slate palettes, potteries, and stone vessels. Five slip painted
vases (1) of the Middle Pre-dynastic style with their combinations of geometric and
naturalistic designs, are characteristic of Neolithic culture. The great achievements of
the Old Kingdom (2680-2280 B.C.) are shown by a fine series of six limestone reliefs
from a private tomb of the 5th Dynasty (2560-2420 B.C.) at Saqqarah (2). These
scenes, in low relief, of private life, harvesting, and hunting, are the result of a sur¬
plus market for the arts, for prior to this dynasty, sculpture of such quality was
produced largely for royalty. The powerful and rigid poses of previous royal
sculptures were now used for lesser persons such as Min-Nefer (3), whose “watchful”
attitude suggests the function of the sculpture: to observe the ritual of life mirrored
in stone as it produced the necessaries for life in death.
The somber art of the Middle Kingdom (2065-1785 B.C.) is represented only
by the painted wooden sarcophagus of Senbi and by the mask of his mummy, but
the style of the New Kingdom (1 580-1340 B.C.) can be seen in numerous objects of
daily use including painted pottery from Amarna (1370-1352 B.C.). In sculpture a
gray-green stone head of the female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut (151 5?-1 484 B.C.), has
notably subtle modeling on a small scale (4). In contrast, one of the greatest of all
18th Dynasty remains is to be seen in the monumental yet sensuous granite head of
Amenhotep III (1405-1370 B.C.), (5), the father of Akhenaten, and ruler during
Egypt’s golden age. The warmth and charm of this period are a contrast to the
previous styles of the Old and Middle Kingdoms and prove that change was not
completely foreign to Egypt’s hieratic art.
The following period of decline was brought to an abrupt end by the patronage
of Mentemhet, Governor of Thebes at the beginning of the Saite period (663-525
B.C.), who constructed a magnificent tomb using Old and New Kingdom motifs with
great precision and style. The Museum has 16 reliefs ( 6 , 8 ) from this great tomb-
chapel. Bronzes, including images of numerous deities and anthropomorphic coffins
(7), were made in great quantities from this time on. The Ptolemaic period (332-330
B.C.) produced some excellent sculptures, especially of granite in the round and
limestone in relief, which combine traditional architectonic postures with subtle and
fleshy modeling derived from Greece (9 Amun-pe-Yom ; 10 ).
Greek art is rightly regarded as the first of humanistic styles and as parent to the
Western tradition until the present day. The last Egyptian sculptures show Greek
modeling, while the earliest Greek sculptures of the archaic period reveal a rigidity
of pose derived in part from Egypt. The rapid development of an objective attitude
toward anatomy and representation resulted in a mercurial development of marble
sculpture in the 6th century punctuated by a series of great votive or commemorative
sculptures of youths (Kouroi). One of the best of these is the Attic torso (11), with
its marble “skin” intact, which marks a point around 550 B.C. when a trembling
balance between the geometric and the organic was achieved. The characteristic
“archaic smile” brightens the marble sphinx head (12) of slightly later date, while
the untroubled serenity of the transitional period (c. 480 B.C.) is reflected in the small
female head ( 14 ) from Amorgos.
15 16
A complete rendering of the Athena theme on a small scale in the bronze mirror
(13) reminds one of the growing importance of bronze casting by the time of the
transition. Vessels (15) in golden metal and animals in the full round (16 # Bull) were
among these productions. The technique was taken up with great flair in the Etruscan
regions of Italy where sprightly figures derived from vase painting decorated
candelabra and vessels of the late 6th century (17, Dancing Maenad). These were
followed by more prosaic but more complicated castings, often in the form of cista
handles (18, Death and Sleep Carrying Sarpedon). The medium of terra cotta should
not be forgotten and Magna Graecia provides numerous finds from archaic times on.
The Museum has a distinguished group of small sculptures in clay including a grave,
bearded head (19) which recalls the style of the famous marbles of Olympia
(c. 460 B.C.). The quality of jewelry, particularly work in gold (31, Fibula), reached
extraordinary heights in such difficult techniques as that of granulation.
The untroubled vigor of the archaic period and the god-like serenity of the
transitional style are followed by the style of the Golden Age, the period of
Polycletus, of Phidias, and of the Parthenon. Large-scale original marbles in the full
round are practically nonexistent and one must study these types in Roman copies.
Of these works the Museum possesses one of the best replicas of the Discus Bearer
(20), close to Polycletus (active 452-405 B.C.). While the scale, pose, and general
impression of the original can be inferred from such a work, the full flavor of the
slightly troubled mood of reverie and of the accurate yet nobly handled anatomy
of the nude, characteristic of the period following the defeat of the Persians, can
be seen and felt in the Athlete (21), one of the few fine bronzes of the period extant.
The difference between the broad masculinity of this modeling and the exquisitely
17 18 19
refined handling of an almost identical theme in the 3rd century ( 22 ) is a priceless
visual lesson in the changes of style from the period of Phidias to that after Praxiteles.
A fragment of a marble grave stele ( 23 ), in high relief, lies somewhere between the
two bronzes in point of time, probably in the early 4th century.
The sequence of 43 Greek vases is relatively complete for so small a number and
shows some typical shapes: Amphora ( 25 ), Loutrophorous ( 26 ), Oeinoche ( 27 ), Kylix
( 28 ) and Lekythos ( 29 ). The same stylistic sequence seen in sculpture is evident in the
masterful painting on the vases. The geometric style of the Dipylon vases of Athens
( 24 ) and the orientalized heraldry of Corinthian and Italo-Corinthian pots ( 25 )
yields to the hieratic early black-figured style ( 27 , Europo and the Bull). The tendency
toward naturalism and the greater freedom and accuracy in rendering anatomy
and drapery accompany the birth and development of the red-figure style, as seen
in the Kylix ( 28 ) by Douris (active 510-465 B.C.). The 4th century style is most
beautifully seen in the white-ground vases ( 29 ) with their subtle and fluent line
drawing in black and red. The last of the significant painted vases displays a pictorial
manner, painted rather than drawn, which is typical of the Gnathia ware of South
Italy ( 30 ) and is already in a Hellenistic manner.
The name of Alexander (356-323 B.C.) is inseparable from the beginning of
Hellenistic style and the collection possesses a fine marble head of the great world
conqueror ( 32 ) which reveals the pictorial modeling and feeling for agony and
tension which mark production from the 4th century on, particularly in the work of
Scopas (active 395-350 B.C.) whose style is directly mirrored in a small polychromed
head of a Gaul ( 34 ), as well as in a tufa stone relief from Tarentum (not illus.).
Alexander’s official sculptor was Lysippos (active 372-300 B.C.), and one of his most
25 26 27 28
famous works in bronze (or silver), the small Herafc/es Fptfrapez/os, (“'on the table”) is
visible in a Roman marble replica (33) which retains much of the original manner,
particularly in the exaggerated musculature revealed by modeling with heavy
shadows* Bronzes of this period, too, take on a great degree of tension with a
tendency to spiral movement in depth (35, Dancing Satyr). Hellenistic decorative
arts are exhibited in various forms: goldwork (36), a bronze candelabrum with a
youth as caryatid (not illus.).
For the layman, and even the general historian, creative Roman art is predom¬
inantly a matter of portraiture. The Museum has examples of Roman work in bronze,
ceramics, terra cotta, and glass as well as Roman low reliefs, stone furniture, and
jewelry* The heart of the collection is a series of 1 3 portraits, beginning with the
almost patrician realism of a rare bronze head (39) of the late Republican or early
Augustan period (to 14 A*D.)* This head already betrays the beginning of an
idealization which later took the form of modified imitation of the ideal portrait of
the reigning power. Thus, to a degree, all marble women of the period of Lucilla
(Fema/e Head, not illus.) look like the marbles of the Empress (b. 1 48—d, after 1 82
A,D.}, Flattery was not the least of the arts of Imperial Rome. On the other hand
occasional portraits of the imperial period, such as the marble (37) from the period
of Trajan (89-1 17 A.D-) continued the almost brutal realism which had been the
strength of earlier Republican portraiture* Perhaps the most important of the
portraits is that ( 42 ) of the co-Emperor Lucius Verus (reigned 161-69 A.D.) with
its characteristic Antonine style of undercutting, and its virtuoso play of light and
shade* Later private sculptures, such as that of the boy ( 41 ) succeed in being
graciously individual* This latter bust, with its increased field of vision, including a
forge port of the upper torso, is characteristic of the portraits after the Flavian
period (69-96 A.D.). The especially large area of torso indicates a date in the 3rd
century.
Other than portraits, the Museum possesses a colossal marble figure (40) of a
statesman robed in the togas and done in the Flavian style which was much influenced
by the Greek Golden Age. The head, perhaps that of the Emperor Vespasian (69-79
A.D.), does not belong to the body. A torso of Apollo (33) is particularly important
for the ornamentation of its attributes in the gracious and restrained style of the
Augustan age (27 B.C—14 A,D,), A major format for the Roman sculptor was the
sarcophagus and in these the sculptor could indulge his interest in complex figure
composition. Many of them were decorated with narrative scenes, as is the Museum’s
3rd century example (43) which shows the story of Orestes, Aegisthus, and Clytem-
nestra. The gradual change from Classical idealism and naturalism to late Roman
and Byzantine schematism is indicated here in the handling of the draperies, not
unlike the winding sheets used in contemporary sculpture by Henry Moore. The
development of this later Roman style can be seen in numerous objects of silver,
textile, and stone which are considered a part of Early Christian art within the
department of Decorative Arts.
DECORATIVE ARTS
The cities of Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria vied with Rome in importance
during the days of the late Roman Empire. These fragments, in tapestry technique,
which are characteristic of much of the textile production of Egyptian ateliers, come
from the Severance, Huntington, and Wade collections, respectively. The garments
were found in graves and their remarkable state of preservation is due to the dry¬
ness of the Egyptian climate. The first ( 44 ) is 3rd-4th century Egyptian Graeco-
Roman, the others ( 45 , 46 ) are 4th-5th century Graeco-Roman, and 46 is either
Egyptian or Syrian. Their designs, with bands of running tendrils enclosing animals
or other motifs, or roundels enclosing figures or animals, are typical of the kind of
decoration that was applied to tunics and other garments.
The founding of the Eastern Empire by the Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D., with
Constantinople as its capital, emphasized the increasing cultural and artistic impor¬
tance of the East. Characteristically early Christian or Byzantine are four silver
pieces, from the Wade collection, part of the only 4th century Silver Treasure in the
United States. Found, presumably near the port of Antioch, they have definite indi¬
cations of East Mediterranean origin. These and other Wade pieces, ( 52 , 53 , 54 , 56 ),
show similarities to objects which form part of the Mildenhall Treasure in the British
Museum and the Traprain Treasure in Edinburgh. The type of vessels in the Wade
Treasure indicate that they were intended for secular not ecclesiastical purposes.
The sweetmeat dish ( 47 ), if it is that, is remarkable; no other piece of the same type
is known. The decoration of the bowl ( 50 ) in niello is worthy of mention. The spoon
( 48 ) and ladle ( 49 ) fit this bowl so beautifully that they appear to be another proof
that the entire group came from one workshop and was designed as a unit. Pieces
52 , 53 , 54 , 56 , of the 4th century Wade Silver Treasure were also found near the
port of Antioch. The large candle stick which holds a lamp shaped like a horse’s
head ( 52 ) is remarkable both for its size and quality, as is the bowl ( 53 ), one of
the largest and most perfect of its type known. Each has a pearled edge decoration
which appears in a less developed form on the Oenochoe ( 56 ), as well. It is possible
that this decoration can be localized in the eastern Mediterranean basin.
The Mildenhall Treasure and the Traprain Treasure, found in Great Britain, and
in all likelihood buried there during the disturbed years at the end of the 4th century,
have many pieces with similar pearled borders. The Carthage Treasure in the British
Museum which was found in North Africa has a bowl with the same decor. A ewer
and a smaller bowl in the Berlin Museum also have the same motif. The latter has a
stamp of Constantinople on it with a representation of the Goddess Constantinople,
in the particular form used on late 4th century coins of Gratianus and Valentinianus II.
The handle of the Berlin ewer with its interlace spirals that end in a leaf motif is the
theme for the leaf handle of the sweetmeat dish ( 47 ). There are other decorative
features that appear both in the Wade pieces and these related objects. Four
objects, three chalices and a paten ( 51 , 55 ) come from Syria and are dated 5th or
6th century. The chalices are among the largest known. Brehier dated them before
434 A.D. from the inscriptions on them, but a different reading of the inscriptions
supports the assumption that they are 6th century. The facial types engraved on the
chalices favor this conclusion.
The civilization of Byzantium came to a height early, absorbing Syrian and
Alexandrian influences which, mingled with other late classical motifs, formed a style
which truly can be called Byzantine. A climax was reached during the first Renais-
sance in the reign of the great Emperor Justinian (527-65 A.D.) and his wife,
Theodora. It was during this period that the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople
was planned and built. Architecture flourished, as did mosaics and all the luxury
items of the minor arts. The goldsmith work, jewelry, enamels, and ivory, shown here
( 57 - 64 ) developed during this period. All of them are 6th century in date, except
the buckle ( 57 ) and the earring ( 58 ), which are 7th century, and all of the pieces
are Wade except 59 , which is Rogers, and 62 , which is Allen. Very often the objects
are decorated with garnet inlay, or with enamel, and one earring has added the
use of pearls. The Greek cross is a favorite motif as a pendant on necklaces.
Antioch and Alexandria continued to be extremely important although the impress
of style from the capital was such, and became so increasingly felt throughout the
Empire, that the exact site of workshops cannot be determined with precision. The
pyx ( 64 ) in the Wade collection, an ecclesiastical object designed to hold the Holy
Wafers, was certainly made in an Egyptian atelier and its style compares directly
with the ivories on the famous chair of St. Maximian in Ravenna. The strongly
indicated, almost staring eyes are one of the points in common, as is the drapery
style. Cut into three parts to insure equal division in a family inheritance, the pieces
are now reunited again.
An important wool tapestry ( 65 ) with a Nereid figure is Egyptian, late Hellenistic,
3rd-5th century, and its vine leaf borders and figure show its derivation from late
classical sources, through Alexandria. Its purity of type, distinction and fineness of
drawing, and remarkable state of preservation, make it one of the most remarkable
pieces known. The gold necklace ( 67 ), like the textiles is Wade. Although Byzantine
6th century and Christian in its use of the cross, it is associated with the tapestry
because it shows clearly the type of jewelry in fashion, similar to that worn by the
Nereid.
Co-existent with this art of classical derivation in Egypt is the art of the Copts
which also draws a measure of its characteristics from classical sources. The name
Copt was originally given to those of Christian faith in Egypt who, from the 4th to
the 7th century, embraced the dogmas of the Church of Alexandria. Coptic art was
based on Hellenistic motifs but impregnated also with influences from Rome and
Byzantium. For instance the silk textile ( 68 ) from Achmim is a provincial 6th-8th
century copy of Byzantine models; here the classical motif of antelopes suckling
their young is placed on either side of the tree of life, a motif from the Near East.
The first elements of Coptic sculpture, as well as architecture, were also much in¬
fluenced by Byzantine models. The emphasis on light and shadow and a flattening
of modeling shown in two capitals (66, 69), part of a group of Coptic sculptures
in the Severance collection, are expressions of the transformation of classical sculp¬
tural ideas by influences from Syria. The way of indicating the highly accentuated
eyes is also essentially Syrian. Several very interesting textiles are representative of
Coptic fabrics, and are largely Wade collection. In 72, a central orant figure is
flanked by two figures. A wide border at the top with a fret motif recalls Roman
mosaics. Only a portion of the textile is reproduced; its colors are natural linen with
deep orange-red, dark blue, yellow, green, and blue-green wool. The figures in
the rare embroidery (70), part of the decoration of the clavus of a tunic, are perhaps
St. George and the Dragon—the “nimbed” figure on horseback is thrusting his spear
into a serpent. The intensity of the expression and the emphasis on the eyes should
be stressed. Particularly attractive is a tapestry roundel (71), which may be Coptic
67 68 v 69
70 71 72
or Persian. In any case it is 6th century and the winged and harnessed horse is
contained by a band of black with a repeated motif of tan heart-shaped leaves.
Extraordinarily rare is the fragment of a hanging (73), in the Severance ccllection,
resist dyed in indigo on natural linen cloth. There are three horizontal registers with
Coptic inscriptions representing the Adoration of the Magi and other Biblical scenes.
Particularly to be noted is the figure of Jonah, a completely classical holdover. The
border has the same vine leaf pattern which occurred on 68 . The plant in the fore¬
ground in various scenes is a survival of Alexandrian Impressionism. The characteristic
eyes, and the style, relate it to early 6th century ivories (64). Also Severance is the
6th century Coptic wooden ceiling panel (74), perhaps the most complete and
perfectly preserved Coptic wood known. Lotus blossoms in roundels and an inter¬
laced strap design are framed by narrow borders with fish, aquatic animals, birds,
and winged figures, that recall Nilotic scenes.
The Byzantine Empire was an important world power for more than eleven
hundred years, although in the last 200 years of its rule under the Paleologi it
greatly weakened and finally fell before the Turks in 1453. The climax of its power,
however, and its second Renaissance, came much earlier under the Macedonian
Dynasty 867-1081, initiated by the reign of the great Emperor Basil I. A steatite
medallion (81), Wade, is typical of many small carvings or plaquettes made in this
finely grained material, and the facial characteristics date it at the end of the 9th
century. The silver cross (75) was designed to be decorated with plaques of cloisonne
enamel on gold. Only the central plaque of the Crucifixion remains and its general
style is of the 10th century. This, the pendant (77) and gold button (78), which is
one of a pair, are lOth-llth century, from the Rogers collection. The golden buckle
73
74
(79) , 10th century, is a gift of Miss Rosamond Zverina. An exquisite 11th century ring
(80) , Wade, with tiny inserts of cloisonne enamel and beautiful filigree work is very
fine. Found in Sicily, it is an example of far flung Byzantine influence, and it may
very well have been made on that island, a product of one of the ateliers there.
During these years Byzantine influence in southern Italy and Sicily was very marked;
much of the Mediterranean was a Byzantine lake. Always called Byzantine, is the
11th century Horn of St. Blasius (76), bought with a Huntington grant, which is a part
of the world famous Guelph Treasure. It is hard to localize exactly in what part of
the Empire it was actually made; the addorsed and confronted animal figures have
marked Near Eastern influences and may very well have come from Syria.
The Cleveland Museum is rich in important objects of the second great Byzantine
period, the Basilian Renaissance. Outstanding among them is the 11th century
Stroganoff Ivory (85), in the Wade collection, so called from the name of its last
owner. In its hieratic quality it expresses the aloofness and restraint of much later
Byzantine art, yet there is deep feeling hidden beneath the seemingly abstracted
figure, and details such as the upturned hands of the accompanying angels show
the mystic feeling which is present in major Byzantine productions. A series of ivory
caskets with decorations of rosettes have some profane and some religious subjects,
and the Cleveland box (86) given by J. H. Wade, J. L. Severance, W. G. Mather,
F. F. Prentiss, is in the latter category, with scenes from the story of Adam and Eve.
It is one of three large caskets with this subject known; they are in Darmstadt,
Leningrad, and Cleveland, which has the best preserved of the three, lacking only
one plaque. A smaller damaged box is in Pesaro.
Two Wade miniatures, St. Peter (82) and St. Matthew (84) illustrate two directions
in the craft of illumination; St. Peter, the “broad style.” This Apostle, one of two
owned by the Museum, came from a Gospel formerly in the Library of the Phanar
at Constantinople. It was made between 1057 and 1063 for presentation to the
Monastery of Halki at the order of the former Empress Catherine Comnene, who
had taken the veil much against her wishes when her husband resigned as Emperor.
St. Matthew, in its exquisite detail, is in the “finer style” and is characteristically
Constantinopolitan. The large Altar Frontal in marble (83), from Severance Fund,
is early in date, 5th century. It came from a known church in Ravenna, the greatest
center of Byzantine influence in the West—the church of St. Vitale there rivaled even
the churches of Constantinople.
One of the most mysterious and puzzling objects in the Museum is the stone Head
(89), Celtic, probably from England, a gift of Dr. and Mrs. Hirsch, which has been
dated, with a question, Tst-2nd century A.D., although it is impossible to date it pre¬
cisely, in the light of present knowledge. Since the Celts had a profound interest in
the head in their religious exercises, it has been suggested that a head such as this
might have been used as a focal point in a sanctuary. One thing is certain, it is not
a fragment, but an object created in the form it has now. Grave finds of 5th-8th
century objects of Frankish (Merovingian) provenance in France, give an insight into
the weapons and ornaments of the people and the Museum has pieces such as a
bronze sword, 7th century, (88), Wade. The base of its handle is inlaid in cut garnet
and other stones. A buckle (93) has an incised design, and a pendant, or boss, (92),
decorated with filigree inlaid with colored paste, is from the Huntington collection.
Influences passed back and forth across the English Channel, but one of the most
powerful was the impress of the Irish monks which found expression in manuscript
illumination and related arts. This is seen in the Christ Medallion (90), Wade collection,
one of the rarest incunabula in the realm of enamels; 8th century and Frankish,
it is a part of the Guelph Treasure. It is a cloisonne enamel in copper and the motif
on either side of the Christ figure may be the fish, a Christ symbol. In style it connects
with the Lindau book cover in the Morgan Library. Another example of interchanging
ideas is seen in a Franco-Saxon page, a Canon Tables (87).
English art at its best and rarest is represented by a small boxwood casket (91),
which can be dated 10th century, in the time of Athelstan. Certain details which do
not appear in the later Anglo Saxon style fix the early date.
The Gertrudis altar and crosses (94, 95, 96), Huntington, Wade, Mrs. E. B. Greene
gifts, are unique, the altar being the only portable altar in gold known, and one of
the greatest of medieval objects. The first cross’s inscription says that it was made
for the Countess Gertrude, the second’s, that she presented it to the Cathedral of
Brunswick in memory of her husband, Count Liudolf, who died in 1038. They are the
greatest individual objects in the Guelph Treasure, the Museum having acquired
them with six other pieces in 1930-31. At the time of the Reformation, the Brunswick
Cathedral treasures became the property of the Ducal House which remained
Catholic, the Cathedral becoming Protestant. After World War I the Dukes of Han¬
over, the Guelphs, sold the Treasure. Hitler later acquired the majority of remaining
pieces for the German Reich.
A Title Page of a Reichenau manuscript (97), Wade, is dedicated to Archbishop
Pilgrim of Cologne. On the reverse of the page it bears the name of Abbot Berno
as well, which effectively places it between the fixed dates 1020 and 1030. This
scriptorium of Reichenau had made many manuscripts for the Emperor Henry II,
91 92 93
who was also associated with many other art works. He ordered the Golden Altar
now in Musee Cluny for the Cathedral of Bale. It has the closest relationship to the
Gertrudis Altar , although slightly earlier in date. A splendid Reliquary in Form of Book
(98), Huntington, is also from the Guelph Treasure. The reliquary, in silver gilt, was
fashioned in Brunswick in the 14th century and the ivory, carved at Liege in the
Me use Valley about 1000 A.D., was used to decorate it. St. Blasius, St. John the
Baptist, St. Thomas a Becket, patron saints of Brunswick, are engraved on the back.
Morse ivory plaques (99), Wade, German, from the lower Rhine are exceptionally
fine. Tiny in size, in magnificence of design they are monumental sculpture.
Henry the Lion, the Guelph Duke, was a great donor to the Cathedral of Bruns¬
wick. When he returned from the Crusades in 1175 he brought relics from Con¬
stantinople and the Holy Land, among them relics of the Apostles. This Arm Reliquary
(104), a Huntington purchase, and part of the Guelph Treasure, was unquestionably
made then and, as reliquaries usually took the form of the objects they contained,
the relics were probably arm fragments. The Paten of St. Bernward of Hildesheim
(100), a Wade and Norweb gift, was made about 1175 by the Master of Oswald
Reliquary whose most important work is in Treasury of Hildesheim. The Paten was
mounted in a monstrance in the 14th century, together with a fragment of the True
Cross brought back from Byzantium by Duke Henry the Lion. This and other objects
from the Treasure are recorded in the inventory of the Guelph family, in 1482.
Not in the Treasure, yet associated with Henry the Lion, is the illumination, St.
Matthew (105), removed in the 18th century from a manuscript now in the Treasury
of Trier and made by a co-worker of Herman von Helmarshausen, who worked for
the Duke. Behind the figure of the saint on the manuscript page, is a scroll design
97 98 99
which appears in niello on the Bernward Paten. This and the following pieces are
in the Wade collection, A P/ague (106), late 12th century, with tiny meta! spots left
in the background is typical of Hildesheim enamels, of which there are four in the
Museum s collections. Characteristically 12th century are other illuminations, the ex-
quisite Tree of Jesse (103), Rhenish, a few decades earlier than the Austrian Nativity
(107), Particularly noteworthy is Title Page of the “Mora/ia of Gregorius” (102),
which shows the writer before Gregory, and above Job and his friends. It is probably
by the great Frowin, Abbot and illuminator of Engelberg in Switzerland, The final
page is a Tab/e of Consanguinity (101), or relationship, English, about 1200 in date,
Champleve enamel was a technique in which the design or background was dug
from a ground, usually of copper. These depressions were then filled with powdered
glass mixed with the requisite amount of metallic oxide to secure the desired colors.
After being fused, the surface was polished and metal parts gilded. One of the
great centers for this was the valley of Meuse and this Mosan Reliquary (108) is
from its most important atelier, that associated with the name of Godefroid de Claire.
Distinctive colors, facial types, characteristically placed inscriptions, decoration of
metal surfaces with circular depressions or raised metallic pearls, indicate the atelier.
Another important center, in Germany, was Hildesheim in lower Saxony. St. Bern¬
ward, Bishop of Hildesheim, had initiated workshops of various kinds there in the
11th century. Two pieces, a portable altar (109) and a plaque (111) are second half
of the 12th century. The altar is of the so-called Welandus group characterized by
the vigorous graphic style of the figures, the stylized trees, and the curious plunging
figure of Isaac to the right. By another hand, in Hildesheim, is the plaque with the
Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (111), formerly in the Hermitage, Leningrad. A Hildesheim
100
101
103
104
105
102
106
108 109
feature are the tiny metal points left in the enamel background. While drapery
styles are close to the first atelier, facial types are different. The Reliquary (110),
12th century, called Danish (?), which also came from the Hermitage, is exceptional.
Its rather summary figure design, with both figures and background enameled, its
beautiful and exceptional color—turquoise blue, white, and yellow—and the
effective knobbed border decoration, set it apart in a group of eight complete
boxes and one single plaque known. The Cleveland piece is by far the most dis¬
tinguished of the group.
Limoges in France was one of the greatest enamel centers and its earlier products
are outstanding. Compare the Limoges pieces with the Mosan and German enamels
discussed before; each is characteristic and personal. The technical methods show
progressive development: in the first type (112, 113) figures are enameled and
background is left in metal; in the second type (114), gift of the Samuel Mather
family, (111) background is enameled, and figures are left in metal; the third type
(115, 117), is similar to the others with heads in relief; and the fourth type (not illus.)
is similar to the preceding, with whole figures applied. Rarest of all types is the
c hasse (112) with gilded copper ground, beautifully engraved with vermiculated
design, a fond vermicule. The cross (113) ranks, in French opinion, as the greatest
known, the only one in which all four end pieces are present. The pyx (116) used for
Holy Wafers is a typical example of rosette style as are the two plaques (115, 117).
The latter two pieces are among the better examples of plaques which have applied
heads in relief. Not only is there distinction in their modeling, but exquisite finesse
in the manner in which the figures are engraved. An interesting use of subject
material is seen in the Decapitation of St. Thomas a Becket (117). Also iconographi-
110 111
112 113 114
cally significant are the skull (113) and the figure of Adam (115) beneath the
Crucified Christ. According to medieval legend, the wood from the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil, the fruit of which caused Man’s fall, was used in the
cross on which Christ died, and was placed in the tomb of Adam on Golgotha. Thus
the blood of Christ streamed down upon the skull of Adam, and the cause of Man’s
fall became the means of his redemption. The majority of medieval objects in the
Museum are Wade collection, expressing the interest of J. H. Wade in this period.
A feature of the Cleveland Museum are its early Spanish textiles which, like many
of the medieval textiles, are part of the Wade Collection. Spain was under Islamic
influence as early as 711, and much of her art in these early centuries was influenced
by the infiltration of Eastern ideas. The decoration of roundels, enclosing addorsed
or confronted animals is but one of these borrowed themes. The city of Almeria
where these might have been made, was the greatest among a number of Spanish-
Islamic textile centers. In the tomb of St. Bernard Calvo, Bishop of Vich (1233-43),
was a particularly important find of early silks. Many graves have been opened
and textiles removed, and remarkable textiles have thus been preserved. (The time
of their burial furnishes a secure date after which the pieces found could not have
been made.) The Museum has three fabrics from the tomb of Bernard; one (118)
is 11th century, which illustrates the veneration which was given rare silks even at
this early date. The design is a double-headed eagle grasping lions, arranged in
horizontal rows separated by lobed borders. It suggests, but does not show, the
full roundel design as do the 12th century Lion Strangler Silk (119) and the Eagle Silk
(120) from the reliquary of Santa Librada in the Cathedral of Siguenza. The latter
was reputed to have been brought from Almeria in 1147 by Alfonzo VII, as was a
115 116 117
118 S 119 so. 120 5
second silk (121), with the same fascinating provenance. A fifth piece (122), a frag-
merit of the cope of Abbot Biure from San Cugat des Valles, is Spanish, Mudejar,
12th century- It is fortunate to be able to associate with these textiles two wooden
statues of the Virgin and St. John (123, 124) from a crucifixion group, given by
Mr* and Mrs. F. F. Prentiss. They are Castilian, about 1275, and retain the original
polychromy and the design of their textile fabrics in such good state that it gives
an idea of how they actually looked and how they were used.
All of the textiles under discussion are Spanish, Hispano-lslamic, Wade collection.
The strange vicissitudes which sometimes preserve textiles are illustrated by a frag¬
ment (125) found in good condition beneath metal bosses on a manuscript binding
at Vich. Several other fragments from the same manuscript are in other collections.
The motif of confronted musicians enclosed in roundels is Islamic—one repeat of the
design is illustrated. A rare tapestry weave (126) has a rich design of interlaced
bands and stylized palmettes, enhanced by the use of gold wrapped thread.
Historically as well as aesthetically important are the rich fabrics (127, 128) known
as the vestments of San Valero, reputedly bought in Tarragona in 1279, given to
the church of San Vicente, in Roda, and later passed on to the Cathedral of Lerida.
The first (127) is a compound doth, richly woven with gold, the second (128) is in
tapestry technique with a design of /aceria, or interlacing, and the whole is so heavy
with gold that the material seems almost gold itself.
Another group shows the evolution of 14th century design. The first (129) has a
typical knotwork design on white and the effective use of Naskhi inscription in yellow
on a rose-red ground. In 130, a knotted and interlaced Kufic design is reserved in
red against a gold ground, within an all-over pattern of superimposed arch-like
121
122
123
124
125 3 126 127 128
forms. Another 14th century motif is seen in the silk (131) with a design of roundels
formed by interlaced bands, in gold thread, enclosing foliate devices. The last piece,
(132), is 15th century, composed of a central band with knotted Kufic, framed on
either side by bands with Naskhi inscriptions in cartouches, knotwork, and crenelations.
This decorative use of writing is characteristically Islamic.
Two large capitals, a memorial to Mrs. John L. Severance, the Annunciation (133),
and the Ascension (135), form the central part of an ensemble which, with a series
of small capitals, came from the Romanesque Collegiale of St. Melaine at Preuilly-
sur-Claise in the Indre et Loire. This region in the western part of France was touched
by Romanesque ideas which came from Languedoc in the southwest. The drapery
with double folds flaring at the bottom, and the accentuated movements show these
influences. Another capital (134), also Severance, from southern Italy, was reputedly
found in a house at Trani in Apulia. It connects in style with a fragment encased in
a wall of the Cathedral of Monopoli south of Bari, dated 1107, and must be from
the same atelier. This point in southern Italy was on one of the main pilgrimage
routes which led to the tomb of St. Nicolas of Bari. The sculptors there had many
connections with sculptors in Lombardy and, at a later time with those of southern
France.
Three ivories and a marble sculpture show the developing French Gothic. The
seated statuette of the Virgin and Child (138), a gift of Mrs. E. B. Greene, is 13th
century. It has frontality of pose and the mystic smile of early Gothic, and the child
has the winsomeness which later turned into mannerism. An ivory plaque (139), joint
gift of J. H. Wade and J. L. Severance, shows clearly this tentative smile, and the
hanchement or sway of body, typically early 14th century. The smile of the Virgin
133
134
135
and the angel bearing the crown have something of the quality of that in the
“Golden Virgin” of Amiens. The triptych (137) came from the Leichtenstein collection
and is later 14th century. Here is more sophistication, and the figures have an added
heaviness. The Angel of the Annunciation, in marble (136), a Wade purchase, with
its elegance and refinement, is also of the early period. It came from the Church of
Javernant in the Aube. The Virgin belonging to the group is in the Louvre.
The Museum’s German sculpture is headed by the famous Christ and St. John
(140), which dates from about 1280. It comes from the area north of the Lake of
Constance and was formerly in the Castle of Schuelzberg. It is one of a small group
of similar sculptures which centered around a cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
this piece, according to German authorities, being the earliest in date. The Christ
figure with its frontality and formal stiffness contrasts with the relaxed and sleeping
St. John. How wonderfully the artist has created a mood. The hand of Christ lies
upon St. John’s shoulder, their hands barely touch, yet by these indications the artist
has given a sense of mystic union. The piece has the additional beauty of finely
preserved polychromy. The Reliquary of the True Cross (141), German, School of
Cologne, has a decorative inscription which indicates its date, 1214, and tells of the
vicissitudes of the fragment of the True Cross which the reliquary originally con¬
tained. No inscription aids in identifying, exactly, the rock crystal and gold cross
(142) but the use of gold sets it apart from the majority of crosses and makes likely
its traditional association with the Emperor Rudolph. This precious material seems to
have been used especially for crosses of royal provenance. It is German, second
half of the 13th century.
The illuminated page (143) is Wade, it is also German, from Saxony in the late
12th century. A remarkable embroidered lenten cloth (144, 145), German, second
136
137
138
140 141 142 143
half of the 13th century, was made in the Abbey of Altenburg on the Lahn, under
its Abbess, Gertrude, daughter of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Landgravin of Thuringia,
who was so closely associated with Marburg. The variety of stitches gives an effect
of polychromy to its white on white design, and the style and form of the gothic
letters in the inscription support the date. Another later piece from the same source
is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
An illuminated manuscript can give direct insight into the artistic ideals of a
period. Further, the fact that they were preserved within a book provides the added
security that their condition is good and their color unchanged. The French Table of
Consanguinity (146), with its formal dignity and clear linear style, is late 13th century.
The same characteristics appear in an Annunciation (147). There is, however, in this
miniature a greater warmth and elegance which come in part from subject matter.
The architecture, with its broken cusped arch, capitals, and columns banded in the
middle, is mid-13th century in style. An English Christ in Majesty (149), has a distinctly
English flavor, a kind of forthrightness. It is a masterly design—Christ enthroned,
seated upon a rainbow—this is Marlatt collection, the others are Wade. A Germanic
page from Regensburg with a similar theme, Christ as Judge (150), is 14th century.
It is much less stylized; the drapery is free and flowing, and the position of the figure
is more relaxed.
An extremely rare plaque (148) has the same clear-cut precision of style as the
other 13th century pieces shown, although in quite a different medium. It is translucent
cloisonne enamel on gold, associated with the Parisian goldsmith, Guillaume Julien,
who worked in the last half of the 13th century. Pure 14th century in style, however,
are a reliquary (151) and a cross (152), rare examples of the atelier which repaired
144 145
146
147
148
149
the Altar by Nicholas of Verdun at Klosterneuburg near Vienna after it had been
damaged by a fire about 1322. This artist, who may be Austrian or West European,
uses motifs of heart-shaped leaves, trefoil leaves, and motifs such as the pelican
and lion cub, symbols of Christ, all of which set him apart. Also English and 13th
century is the orphrey band of opus Anglkanum (153). Its national characteristics
are as clear as in the miniature (149).
The regional styles of Italy show dearly in the illustrations of Nlccolo di Ser Sozzo's
Fema/e Saints (155) and the marble. Madonna and Child (158), a memorial to H. G,
Dalton, which give a picture of the courtly and spiritual world of Siena. Niccdo was
dose indeed to Simone Martini who with Duccio was the greatest Sienese painter,
and this tiny miniature (155) has Simone's linear elegance, exquisite color, and
refinement. The marble sculpture (158) is by Giovanni di Agostino, capo-maesfro of
the new Cathedral of Siena, begun but never finished because the plague of 1348
tragically made it impossible for Siena to fulfill her dreams of being a great power.
Giovanni di Agostino’s delicate gothic style, as exemplified by this piece, a style
which he also used on the few sculptures he made for the new Cathedral, was in
contrast to Giovanni Pisano's more powerful work for the old Cathedral, This Pisan
tradition of Giovanni's, softened ond feminized by Florence, shows a genera lion
fater in the Angel (154), a Huntington accession, dated c. 1350, It is attributed to
Giovanni and Pacio da Firenze, artists who worked on tombs in the church of Santa
Chiara in Naples. It has also been called the work of Tino da Camaino, but the first
attribution seems preferable.
The Florentine tradition of form Is seen in the Wade manuscripts and embroidery.
The illumination, Coronation of the Virgin (159), by the Master of the Beffi Triptych,
150 151 152 153
154 155 156
is by an artist working in the Abruzzi who knew the tradition of Giotto, while the
embroidery (156), perhaps by Geri di Lapi, shows the spatial forms of both Florence
and Umbria. Another manuscript of great beauty is the Crucifixion (157) signed by
Niccolo da Bologna who is the most important Bolognese figure* its form, sense, and
intensity are in marked contrast to the flat patterning of 160, which is Genoese or
Neapolitan, reflecting the sophistication of the Angevin court.
Italy was a great center of the textile arts from the 13th century on. Even in the
years preceding, Sicily had been a crossroads for influences from the East and from
Spain so that types of design moved bock and forth. For that reason it is hard to
say whether this dlasper weave (161) is Spanish or Sicilian. It is 13th century certainly
and its roundel design with addorsed griffons has a dear Eastern derivation. Lucca
in central Italy was also active in the 14th century and the earlier style there, with
animal figures, developed particularized characteristics derived from Spanish motifs.
In 162 ovate forms support, in alternate horizontal rows, pairs of confronted and
addorsed gazelles and pairs of confronted and regardant eagles. Animal forms
which seem to be heraldic devices, fiying birds, and pseudo-Arabic letters mark
another later Italian style (163) which shows direct influence from Chinese or other
oriental sources.
Fifteenth century designs, for a time (see 164), retain some of these earlier char¬
acteristics, but the figure design of the Annunciation is typically Renaissance and
Florentine. It was in this century that Venice became a leader in the manufacture of
velvet, the close connection with the eastern Mediterranean bringing it directly in
touch with oriental fabrics. The pomegranate design begins to be used here, (165),
combined with a design of confronted peacocks and a fountain, and with addorsed
160
157
153
harts in a wattled enclosure. All of these are Wade collection, except 164, which is
Allen. The Textile Arts Club gift (166), a silk with a typical ogival pattern with
enclosed flowers and pomegranates, follows this type. Particularly splendid are the
two Allen velvets: the boldly designed purple velvet (167) with an undulating band
of leaves and pomegranates; and the velvet with a six-petaled star design of
flowers, enclosing Medici arms (168), which has therefore been called Florentine.
Majolica is an earthenware covered with a tin glaze which forms a slip-like white
covering on which the designs are painted and then fired to secure permanence.
This technique appeared early in Spain and its influence was strong in the later
development of the craft in Italy. Three remarkable pieces, an albarello, a deep
bowl and a smaller bowl (169, 170, 171) from the Humphreys Memorial, illustrate
one of the earliest Spanish types from Paterna, a center outside of, but close to
Valencia. The characteristic decoration of Paterna ware is green and manganese
purple on a white or cream-colored slip. The designs are bold, often including
pseudo-Arabic letters and strongly drawn human figures, or bird and animal sub¬
jects. Textiles such as the Hispano-lslamic 14th century fragment (173) show a banded
design in vertical stripes with a Naskhi inscription in white outlined with yellow on a
blue ground. The design motif is not dissimilar to that of the albarello (169).
A later 15th century fabric (172) which is Spanish, Mudejar, has patterns on a
dull mustard yellow ground of large flowering plants and birds. The tiny flowers
appear again in ceramic ware (175). Because of the strong Hispano-lslamic in¬
fluence in the Majolica ware (cf. 174, 175), it is generally referred to by the name
Hispano-Moresque although made after the Islamic period. The plate (175) is from
the main center, Valencia, and is decorated in dark blue with the brilliant tan colored
166
173
174
175
176
169
170
171
172
luster that distinguishes these pieces. There is usually a very widespread inter¬
relationship of design between the crafts at a given period, and the great 15th
century rug (176) which came from Guadalajara, recalls designs of tiles and textiles.
The octagonal designs with central stars arranged in rectangular panels form an
effective repeat.
In the years around 1400, Burgundy was the most powerful province in France,
more important than the central power itself. Duke Philip the Bold, his brothers
Charles V, King of France, and the famous Due de Berry, were sons of John the
Good, of France, Philip, however, ruled the Low Countries as well, and Dijon, capital
of the Duchy, quickly became the focus of important artistic developments. Claus
Sluter, and his nephew, Claus de Werve, created great sculptures at the Chartreuse
de Champmol, among them the tomb of Philip the Bold with a recumbent figure of
the Duke and, around the arcaded base, 40 small mourning figures. Later the
second tomb of John the Fearless was commissioned* When tombs were removed
to the Chateau in Dijon at time of the French Revolution, a number of these mourning
figures were removed. In French private collections for 150 years, two of them were
secured in the open market In 1940, by the Museum, through the Wade Fund. One
b by Claus de Werve (182) from the tomb of Philip the Bold, the other by Antoine
fe Moiturier from the tomb of John the Fearless (181).
Burgundy was a luxury market for fantastic and beautiful objects. The unique
Table Fountain (179) silver gilt and enamel, sparkling with wine or perfume, must
have added gaiety to a festive board. Only a great lady could have worn the
splendid necklace (177) in gold and enamel. The Triptych (178) in gold and trans¬
lucent enamel enclosing a cameo of extraordinary rarity might have been made for
177 178 179
Anne de Beaujeu. All three are in the Wade collection. Toward 1500, on the other
side of France in the Loire Valley, Michel Colombe brought late gothic sculpture to
an effective climax. Two marble sculptured heads (180, 183) given by W. G. Mather,
are typical, done by an artist who is not as cold and restrained as Colombe, but
instead warm, personal, and introspective.
The courtly world of love and war which interested French artists of the late 15th
century is shown in an exquisite miniature page (185) from the Marlatt collection,
with its flowered border and its fantastic animals. Illuminated by Maitre Francois,
close follower of the great Fouquet, it represents the encounter of Priam and Helen
before the gates of Troy. The scene is set in a landscape with architecture which
might well be that of the Valley of the Loire. In another medium, tapestry, a Hunting-
ton gift, the story of Perseus and Andromeda (186) is told with this same romantic
and delightful naivete. Andromeda is saved from a fearsome dragon by Perseus,
arrayed magnificently in gothic armor, while to the left they are married, to live
happily ever afterward. This came from the important Franco-Flemish center of
Tournai, and was made about 1480. The Flight into Egypt (184), also Franco-
Flemish c. 1480, like the Perseus and Andromeda, has no formal border; it is divided
into three scenes: the Massacre of the Innocents, the Flight into Egypt, and the
Presentation in the Temple. In the background are unusual iconographical repre¬
sentations from the Apocrypha: the farmer who seeds miraculously growing wheat
to hide the fleeing family; the idol on a column who bows to the youthful Christ.
It is one of an important group of tapestries in the Severance collection. The earlier
tapestries are designed as flat decorative patterns and only about 1500 does a
border develop, a feature which becomes more important as tapestries evolve. This
180 181 182 183
is seen in the Court of Love tapestry (187) which is 16th century, Flemish, from
Brussels. Here is a theme somewhat related to 186, showing three crowned queens
enthroned to preside over minor episodes of love and marriage. These tapestries
became more and more like pictures until in the 17th and 18th centuries their borders
were actually copies of frames.
The Museum has a small but outstanding collection of German art, largely in the
Wade collection. From Carolingian and Ottonian periods through the Renaissance,
each period is represented by masterpieces. The Renaissance was late in crossing the
Alps and the last flowering of Gothic in Germany came when Italy was completely
dedicated to the Renaissance ideal. Four sculptures which date in the first decades
of the 16th century show, in drapery and gesture, in highly subjective approach, the
almost baroque exuberance of movement in this period. The tiny boxwood Weeping
Virgin (189) is by Veit Stoss, the famous artist whose major works are in Nuremberg
and Cracow. Tilmann Riemenschneider, also associated with Nuremberg, came from
Franconia and many of his sculptures are preserved in his native Wurzburg. The
St. Jerome and the Lion (188), carved in alabaster, is similar to other small sculptures
by him in a related material in Erfurt. Sensitive and concerned, St. Jerome draws
the thorn from the foot of the legendary lion who, in patient calm, draws strength
from his sainted patron. Hans Leinberger’s great Crucifix (190) with graphic drapery
accentuating the anguish of the dying Christ, is typical of this artist whose major
work was in Landshut, 1525-30. The Pieta (191) by the Master from Rabenden,
dated c. 1515 is the finest work of an artist of the Chiemsee region in far southeast
Germany. Unique is the Manuscript with the Four Evangelists (192), Marlatt collection,
illuminated by the Master of the Hausbuch; it dates after 1480, the only manuscript
184
185
186
187
188 189 190 191
known by this famous graphic artist In the small tapestry, given by L. C. Hanna, Jr.
jn memory of his mother, of the Virgin and Child with Saints ( 1 93), woven c. 1490,
St, SebaJdus of Nuremberg can be identified, indicating it was made for that city.
Much earlier, c, 1420, is the Madonna and Child embroidered orphrey (194), with
the typical mannered drapery of the period in Bohemia.
The Armor Court is one of the features of the Museum, it contains the large
collection of arms and armor given by Mr, and Mrs. John L Severance at the time
of the opening of the Museum in 1916, and added to by them from time to time.
The collection was in large part that of Frank Gair Macomber, supplemented by
acquisition of pieces from Bashford Dean, former Curator of Armor at the Metro¬
politan Museum of Art, A suit of gothic armor (195) is typical of functional 15th
century suits, where simply ribbed lines conform to, and accentuate the body they
protect. What a contrast to it is the 16th century German Maximilian suit (198)
where the emphasis is on dress rather than use. It copies in many ways the vagaries
of puffed and elaborate costumes in fashion at the time of the Emperor Maximilian,
The severely simple and effective Chape/ de Per (199), c, 1450, was made by the
famous Milanese armorer, Tomaso Missaglia whose mark can be seen clearly. A
contrast shows also between the beautifully streamlined late 15th century Armef a
Ronde//e (200) where every line encourages the glancing blow, and the 16th century
Italian Cabessef (201), with its decorative features accentuated by beautifully em¬
bossed and gilded designs. This is frankly, parade armor made for show. The fine¬
ness of decorated pieces is evident also in the Espalier or shoulder plates (197),
Italian, 16th century, by one of the best known Italian makers, the Negroli of Milan,
or in the parade form of the fiondacfoe or shield represented by three extremely
192 193 3“- ^ 194
fine examples. All of these are 16th or 17th century in date; the one illustrated
here (196) is a German shield decorated by Peter von Speier with mer-cenfauns
in combat. The collection has swords, rapiers, daggers, crossbows, and a varied
series of pole arms. The effect of the Armor Court is heightened by four figures
on horseback.
The first generation of Italian Renaissance sculpture is marked by two pieces by
Luca della Robbia, a marble Head of a Singing Boy (208) in the Wade coflection
and formerly in the Dreyfus collection, and an enameled terra cotta, Madonna and
Child (202) bequeathed by J. L Severance. The latter is in Luca’s simple, serene
mood with a white enameled Madonna profiled against a deep blue. The Madonna
and Child by Mino del Rea me (203) presented by Mrs. Leonard C. Hanna, is related
to the work of another early artist, Mino da Fiesole, !n fact this piece has been
attributed to him. Instead, it seems to be an artist influenced by Mino who worked
in Naples and Rome, the piece actually coming from the ciborium of Santa Maria
Maggiore in Rome, demolished In the last century. Other pieces are encased in the
apse of the Basilica, The forceful design and excellent modeling separate it from
Mino do Fiesole’s often structurally weak figures.
The next generation of Florentine sculptors were more relaxed and the grace of
the polychromed terra cotta Madonna (204) by Rossellino exemplies well this
characteristic, St. John the Baptist (207) by the Master of the Statuettes of St. John
is by a Verrocchio follower, also in the second half of the 15th century. The Christ
Child by Baccio da Montelupo (205) was made to replace a broken figure by
Desiderio da Settignano in the ciborium of San Lorenzo, Florence, In the 19th century
when the original figure was repaired, this piece was sold to a Russian collector.
199
200
201
195
196
197
198
204
205
202
These three sculptures are all in the Severance collection. Quite different is a panel
from the tomb of Visconti-Saliterno, formerly in the collection of Prince Trivulzio
(209), by Amadeo, the Milanese sculptor. The drapery clinging to the body,
modeled in flat broken planes, is North Italian in feeling, influenced by Mantegna.
The St. Margaret (206), Wade Fund, by Antonello Gagini, the Sicilian sculptor, with
its fullness of folds and drapery, moves towards the amplitude of the mid-16th
century.
Manuscript illuminations reflect current styles in the painting of the period. Belbello
da Pavia, in his Annunciation (213) compares very closely with the gothic art of
Giovannino de Grassi in Milan, or with the courtly and imaginative art of Verona
exemplified by Stefano da Zevio and Pisanello. But the long oval faces, drapery,
and landscape details are Belbello’s own, defining a precise personality. Also
Lombard, first half of the 15th century, is the Assumption of the Virgin (212) with
characteristic Lombard color and types, which suggest the influence of Michelino
da Besozzo. The artist also seems to have been influenced by Fra Angelico, or by
Masolino who worked in nearby Castiglione d’Olona. In any case it was an artist
definitely looking towards the Renaissance.
Purely Renaissance is the Pieta of Mantegna (211), typical of the Paduan School,
and the second half of the 15th century. Here is stark sculptural realism, forced
perspective with the middle distance omitted to give greater three-dimensional
quality. The striated rocks, the tiny pebbles, the draperies clinging to the body, the
colors shot with gold are Mantegna’s; his style influenced all surrounding centers and
the greatest painter of nearby Ferrara, Cosimo Tura, was his pupil at Padua. All of
the manuscripts are Wade collection except the St. Jerome in the Wilderness (215),
206 207 208 209
210 211 212 213
from the Morlatt collection, which like the page from a Gradual (210) is dose to
Jura, if not actually by his hand. They show Paduan characteristics with an added
emotional mannerism typical of Ferrarese work. St. Jerome kneels before an altar
and a crucifix, in a kind of lunar landscape, swept by linear movements which
mount almost to an emotional frenzy in the figure of the saint. Again this same
intensity and tortured quality characterize the drawing of the very rare tapestry,
The Lamentation (214), Severance collection, woven, from a cartoon by Tura, in a
short-lived but brilliant tapestry workshop in Ferrara,
Reference was made in the discussion of Hispano-Moresque majolica to the influ¬
ence that Spanish technical processes and design played in the development of
majolica in Italy, The same method of decorating a stanniferous or tin glaze with
design was used, but Italy soon found her own creative and personalized approach.
There is a hint of Spanish fashion in the blue designs of the oak leaf jars (216),
but the use of portrait profiles is purely Italian. This oak leaf design came early,
centering in Florence in the middle of the 15th century. Nearby Caffagiolo also
was a center for earlier ware made under Medici patronage, and the double-
handled vase (219} with profile portrait and design of peacock feathers and
briany is typically 1475-80. The briony motif recalls designs of Hispono-Moresque
plates. The use of a profiled figure tn a reserved area was also employed in the
ceramics of Faenzo os was the peacock feather motif. The drug bottle (217), c. 1480,
from this center has a brilliant rendition of a running hound placed within an irregular
■Reid.
Design becomes realistic and more pictorial as the century turns. The alharello
(218) from Faenzo which dates about 1500-10 shows this clearly, as does the figure
\j 214 215
216 217 218 219
on it, perhaps from an unknown engraving by Jacopo de’Barban. This realistic and
decorative phase continues, and the magnificent plate from Deruta, c, 1520, (220)
has rich ornamental features and a beautifully drawn woman's half figure. It has
the golden pearl luster typical of objects from Deruta. All the majolica pieces illus¬
trated are from the Wade collection, except this piece given by W. G, Mather.
The other two pieces, The Three Graces (221), formerly in the Hermitage, and a
Decorative Plate (222), are both by the great potter of Gubbio, Maestro Giorgio,
and dated 1524-25. Gubbio's specialty was a rich ruby luster and these pieces,
magnificent in design, luster, and condition, rank among the finest pieces from this
kiln. Glass became almost synonymous with Venice and Venetian glass from Murano
was one of the luxury items sought after everywhere. Early enameled glass of the
late 15th century is excessively rare; besides those in Cleveland, there are only a
few examples in America. The Ewer (224) with its dark blue glass and portrait of a
woman in a roundel, coming from the J. P. Morgan sale, is one of this exceptional
group. Equally rare is the Goblet (225) with a subject decoration of Cupid and the
Three Graces and the story of "The Monkeys and the Sleeping Beggar/ 5 But, most
remarkable of all is the milk glass Marriage Beaker (228) with medallions containing
profile figures, one resembling closely the Courtesan of Carpaccio. There are only
a handful of these examples of milk glass known. Also early Is the Majestic Cup (227)
with its molded form and the beginning of the scale pattern which became so
common after 1500.
From Venice came, as well, typical painted enamels in blue and green decorated
with arabesques in gold. The enamel Ewer (229) is a rare shape but its decoration
characterizes the whole group of pieces fashioned in this workshop. Turning to
220 221 222
223 224 225
226
Florence, the Roundel (223) with the Coronation of the Virgin is a 15th century
embroidery in astonishing condition. Its design shows a close relationship to paintings
by Lorenzo Monaco. Dated later in the century is the Niello Book Cover (230), made
at the order of Cardinal Balue and bearing his coat-of-arms. This like the other
objects is Wade collection, and is among the rarest examples of niello known. Finally
another exceptional object is a Medici Plate (226) a Severance purchase, product
of a 16th century atelier in the Medici Palace in Florence which produced relatively
few pieces. Only about 60 pieces have been found of this ware. In the attempts to
achieve true porcelain this was one of the ateliers that was almost successful.
Rare 15th century bronzes are represented by two Sienese sculptures, one the
powerful Nude Man (232) known in two examples, in Cleveland and in the Jacque-
mart-Andre Museum, Paris. It dates toward the end of the 15th century and is un¬
questionably by the painter-sculptor, Francesco di Giorgio. This and the other
pieces, except those specifically noted, are Severance collection. Close in date is
St. John the Baptist ( 231) gift of Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Millikin, in gilt bronze; it is a
statuette which has the tentative elegance of Sienese works, c. 1500. Padua, in
northern Italy, was the greatest center then for small bronzes. Donatello in working on
the High Altar of Santo in the mid-15th century had left a legacy of influence; the
Woman with Cornucopia (234), Wade collection, a Paduan bronze of the later 15th
century, shows that. The most important later result, however, was the sculpture of
Riccio, greatest of early 16th century Paduan artists. The unique Satyress (233) a
Millikin gift, the fine Inkstand (239) and remarkable Paschal Candlestick (236), a
major piece of bronze casting, show his style. Unidentified, but North Italian, is the
elegant Venus Prudentia (240) with effective gilt-bronze patina.
227 228 229 230
231
In early Venice, Jacopo Sansovino worked the greater part of his life and al¬
though he added "Fiorentinus” to his signature, the larger number of his works
remain in his adopted home. His influence on Tintoretto was particularly noteworthy.
Compare his Sb John the Baptist (238) with Tintoretto's St. John in Cleveland’s
‘ Baptism."' Similarity of pose, body structure and facial characteristics are very
marked. The Madonna and Child (237) signed by the artist, in the manner noted, is,
in its solid modeling, close to pieces Sansovino did for the balustrade of the choir
in St. Mark’s, Venice. A later Venetian sculptor, Danese Cattaneo, left brilliant work
in his native city. The Nuptials of Peleus and Thetis (235) is a characteristic work by
his hand.
The High Renaissance in France is a fascinating moment in the long history of art.
Italian painters and architects brought in to decorate the Palace of Fontainebleau
near Paris left a legacy there, later interpreted by French artists in a typically
French way so that It became a style in itself. Proportion and interpretation of
motifs were completely altered. This is markedly so in four remarkable pieces of
furniture, oil Severance collection, and all made in the second half of the 16fh
century. The Oak Chest (246) similar to one in the Louvre, is a French rendition of an
Italian cassone, but its proportions are completely changed. The carved panel
recalls Fontainebleau motifs as do the caryatid figures. Its provenance is Normandy.
The Dressolr (244) and Table [245} are of the same period, from Burgundy. In
them is felt the rich exuberance that characterizes the art of that province. The
caryatid was used in their architecture, and here in the Dress o/r, most effectively.
Pendant knobs are used to decorate corners; animal heads or human masks appear
in profusion. The stylized motifs attached to the columnar legs of the table are
236
237
238
239
240
232
233
234
235
241
242
243
244
typical. The table reputed to have been mode for Francis II of France and his wife,
later Mary, Queen of Scots, is magnificently decorated with marquetry. The more
sober Armoire (241) came from Lyons, Mollnier using it as his type piece. Associated
with them in spirit is the rare St. Forchaire ware, also called Henry El ware and
associated with Diane de Poitiers whose symbol, the three entwined crescent moons,
appears often. Two of the five Cleveland pieces are the 8ouquef/er (242) and the
Cup (243) which are Wade collection. In this faience, designs are stamped into
fine paste and filled with colored clay to give a patterned effect. All the motifs of
French renaissance design are used in profusion. About 80 pieces are known to exist.
The German Renaissance in contrast with the French was more stolid and burgher-
like, less exuberant. Characteristic was their interest in the plaquette or medal.
The rare Adam and Fve (249), a Severance piece, by Ludwig Krug, known in only
two examples, is dated 1515 and is associated with influences which came into
Germany from Italy at time of Duerer. The small relief of Christ in Garden of Gefh-
semane (248) is of the same date, carved in finely grained Kelheim stone by Adolf
Daucher, who decorated a chapel for Fuggers at Augsburg, He used this material
for similar plaquettes, a number of which are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Boxwood or other fine grained wood were favorite materials. The portrait of Georg
Knauer (247) by Peter Dell, Habich lists as this artist's masterpiece, it gives the like¬
ness of an important historical personage of the time in sober and solid fashion.
Note the transformation of Italian architectural motifs in its frame.
Peter Floetner, a renowned worker in bronze, illustrates in the Mortar (251) how
he intertwined his design with natural forms, grasses, leaves, even at times tiny
animals cast directly from nature. With them he used figure subjects in German
245
246
247 248 249
manneristic style. A fantastic object in gilt bronze, also highly mannered, is a scale
( 252 ). Like the two preceding pieces it is in the Wade collection and may be by the
hand of Jamnitzer, famed goldsmith of Augsburg. It is a mixture of various renais¬
sance motifs combined with great skill and exquisite technical proficiency. The
famous Medallion of the Trinity in silver ( 250 ), gift of G. Garretson Wade, is one of
few known of this piece by Hans Reinhart, the Elder. A final rarity is the model in
Kelheim stone of a medal ( 253 ) of Pope Alexander V by Tobias Wolff, Severance
collection, which, with several other Cleveland pieces, formed part of the private
collection of Empress Friedrich, daughter of Queen Victoria.
German decorative arts of other types are well represented by a few pieces.
The Double Mazer in wood ( 255 ), Wade collection, has two gilded medals of Albrecht
Duerer which are unrecorded in the lists of known examples of this rare medal by the
sculptor, Matthes Gebel. They are mounted in the top and bottom of the Mazer and
bear the date of Duerer’s death, 1528. A faience Owl ( 254 ) gift of Rosenberg &
Stiebel, Inc., is dated 1540. It is one of a very few known; one of the incunabula in
the early history of German pottery. There are also a series of “Humpen,” the large
drinking glasses ( 251 ) decorated in enamel which are so characteristically German.
One piece ( 258 ), a Mrs. H. W. Cannon gift, is dated 1568, the others are later; all
came from the Rothschild collection in Vienna. A small collection of later pieces was
formerly in the Neuberg collection. These included a Hohlbaluster Cup ( 260 ) signed
by the noted engraver, Hermann Schwinger, of Nuremberg, and dated 1680. Its
engraved scene represents the Panierplatz in his native city. Early 17th century is
the Flute Glass ( 261 ) from Thuringia, as fragile and light as a bubble, with exquisitely
engraved mythological scenes. Both are from Severance collection. Another unusual
250 251 252 253
254
255
256
257
item is a rare enamel on glass with a representation of the Annunciation (259); this
may be either French or German and is 17th century. Its design is very dose to the
German engraver, Valentin Sezenius, The Museum has two engravings by his hand*
This, and the enameled Hat Jewel (257), in gold and enamel are Wade collection.
The jewel is of French provenance dating to the rmd-16th century* These jewels were
used as decorations on men's hats and were distinguished objects made by the
leading goldsmiths of the day. Christ at the Column (256) a Severance purchase,
is a signed and dated sculpture in gilt bronze by the famous Johann Hagenauer
of Salzburg and represents, at its best, the baroque sculpture of Austria,
English needlecraft of the Elizabethan period, 16th century, is well represented
by two pieces of a cap (264), Allen collection, in gold, silver, and silk embroidery
on a linen background* The design is of scrolls and ogives enclosing motifs of
flowers and leaves* The Mirror Frame (265) from the Severance collection, embroi¬
dered in stump work, is 17th century. Figures which may represent Charles I and
Henrietta Maria, meet at a fountain above which hovers a cupid; there are fantastic
animals, and below by a lonely pool, sit two romantic figures. Also from the Charles I
period (1625-49) are three strips from on altar frontal or antependium (263) with
scenes from Biblical and English history, in petitpoint. This is part of the Wade collec¬
tion, as is a charming square (262), possibly part of a curtain or bedspread, James I
period, beautifully embroidered with rows of various garden flowers, insects, and
animals.
English ceramic figurines of the 18th century were used effectively as decorative
features in interiors or as cabinet pieces* Such a piece is the Wade Madonna and
Cfii/d (269), one of the extremely rare religious subjects. It is from the best period
258 259 260 261
262 263 264 265
of the Chelsea factory with the “red anchor” mark, c. 1755. The Itinerant Musician
( 266 ), given by Mr. and Mrs. Lesley Sheafer, is also of this same manufactory and
date. It shows the characteristics of color, paste, and refinement of design which
mark the best pieces of the “red anchor” period. Also very fine is the Shepherd
( 268 ), presented by Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Luntz, one of a pair made in the Bow factory.
Particularly exquisite is the modeling of the tiny flowers which are a specialty of
Bow ware. Spring ( 267 ), one of a set of the four seasons, Bristol, c. 1775, a bequest
of Mary Warden Harkness, is representative of ceramics which come as close to
harder paste as that of any factory in England. No early English ware is really true
porcelain; it is instead a kind of bone china.
The earliest piece of English silver in the Museum is a Tankard ( 272 ) silver gilt, by
a London maker whose name is unknown. His initials are recorded even though no
name is attached. It is an early type with a flat top and is dated 1665. The very
simplicity which characterizes it, gives it style, and its sense of proportion and the
exquisite texture of the silver add to its charm. The Caudle Cup ( 271 ) and the pre¬
ceding piece are gifts of Mrs. Frederick S. Fish. The cup is in heavy metal, made
about 1686. Its place of origin is London and the initials of the maker are recorded
but the name cannot be identified. It is one of the early large decorated pieces,
used probably more often as ornament than for the actual purpose for which it was
made. Caudle was a drink, a thin gruel of milk, ale, spice, and sugar which passed
from hand to hand in such a cup at a baptism or family ceremony. The very early
use of chinoiserie subjects for decoration is notable, as is the exquisite workmanship
shown in the shape and elaborate finial.
The gilt-bronze plate (273), Severance collection, by Paul de Lamerie, c. 1740, is
266 267 268 269
a very rare item which served as a model for an elaborate silver plate now in the
collection of the Earl of llchester. De Lamerle, of French Huguenot extraction, was
one of the most able of English silversmiths. The popular silversmith at the end of the
18th and the beginning of the 19th century was unquestionably Paul Storr. He was
the royal silversmith and his wares were sought everywhere then, as they are today.
Much of his work shows great elaboration and one of the most sumptuous of his
creations is the exquisitely modeled Cenferp/ece ( 274 ), Grasselli Memorial, which
belonged to the Duke of Abercorn. It is really a sculpture in silver. Another Storr
piece, more controlled in its elaboration, is the well-designed Two-Handled Cup
( 270 ) Severance, which may well have been a trophy cup. The Museum possesses
some first-rate English chairs from the Severance collection that illustrate the
evolution of style from the Charles I! period through Chippendale. Earliest is the
Charles II side chair ( 283 ), 1660-70, with its twisted stretcher ond legs and carved
headpiece tenoned between twisted balusters. Then comes a development in an
armchair ( 282 ) of 1680-85, when the balusters are turned not twisted—note the
Flemish scroll in the design which forms the front stretcher, A beautifully carved
James II armchair (281 } with petitpoint seat shows the later tall, carved, and pierced
back in the French taste, with Flemish scroll on the front stretcher. It is one of the
finest pieces of the series. In the next armchair ( 277 ), 1685-95, there are the cross
stretcher and other elements which mark the transition from James II to the William
and Mary period. After this there are a number of William and Mary side chairs,
two of which are reproduced, ( 276 , 278 ); both have the flat Flemish serpentine
stretcher and elaborate crestings. The former is part of a set which belonged to
the Earl of Sandwich, the latter, one of a pair, is after designs by Daniel Marot,
A Pole Screen ( 279 ), a late Georgian piece in the style of Chippendale, with a
273
274
275 276 277 278 279
beautiful piece of embroidery in needle point, gros- and petitpoint, has ball and
claw feet. A Chippendale armchair ( 275 ), in the so-called Chippendale French
manner, is one of a set of four. Elegant in both its line and carving, it is richly covered
in gros- and petitpoint of excellent quality. An unusual side chair of tulip wood,
( 284 ) in the Huntington collection, is one of a pair originally thought to be of Dutch
origin. They have now been identified as Sinhalese, made in the first decade of the
18th century, for the Dutch market. A beautiful Sheraton cabinet in satinwood ( 280 ),
1785-1800, from the Allen collection, is an example of the classical influence at the
end of the century.
French 18th century art is richly represented by the suite of Savonnerie covered
furniture: a sofa, four armchairs, and two tapestries ( 286 , 291 ) made by this royal
manufactory. This especially remarkable group is part of the Severance collection,
as are all the pieces referred to. Savonnerie is a tapestry made by knotting and
cutting the ends to produce a fabric with a deep pile. Presumably a royal gift for
the marriage of a Countess de Merode and a Count Czernin, the tapestries bear
the coats-of-arms of the two families. Designed in the balanced manner of Berain,
they have the stately and formal balance found at the end of the Louis XIV period,
in the years just after 1700. The Trumeau or mirror ( 287 ), in gilt wood, also expresses
this characteristic design pattern. Under the Regency, 1715-25, and early Louis XV
period, however, the emphasis changes from symmetrical to asymmetrical balance.
There is a greater freedom and gaiety in line and decoration. This change of style
can be seen clearly by comparing the early ebony cabinet ( 289 ) with the later
Regulateur ( 285 ). Both of these pieces are also characteristic examples of Boulle
work, a name taken from the family name and applied to this technique of metal
280 281 282 283 284
285 286 287 288
inlaid patterns on a background of tortoise shell* The cabinet, probably made for
Versailles, has a central panel inlaid in wood on tortoise shell, a peculiarity which
only occurs in the work of the greatest member of the family, Andre-Charles Boulle.
The Regu/afeur come from the Gagarine family, given to them by the Empress
Catherine of Russia, The richness of the new mode shows even more clearly in
another clock (288); it is emphasized by the ormolu or gilt bronze which was used
so lavishly for individual objects, or as decorative furniture appliques, A splendid
Savonnerie rug (290) bears the Royal coat-of-arms and it is probable that It is the
piece made for the Chateau de la Muette* Several pieces here clarify the design
change from the balanced formality of late Louis XIV style to the asymmetrical
decoration of the Regency and Louis XV periods. The Gam/ng Table (293), early 18th
century, is from the Severance collection, as are all pieces except where noted. It is
typically symmetrical in its design and the use of a stretcher is o holdover from the
previous century. In the Commode by Caffieri (298), memorial gift to Mrs, Harry
Payne Whitney, the freedom of new emphasis is felt clearly in the applied asym¬
metrical decoration of ormolu. This is even more evident in Individual pieces such as
the fire dogs (292) signed by Caffieri, 1752 which bear the fleur-de-lis and the
inventory number of the Palace of St, Cloud, Here the artist is playing with pure
fancy and the swinging lines of the design suggest the flickering movement of fire
itself. This same dynamic vitality is felt in the magnificent ormolu Cande/abrt/m (297)
from the Schloss in Dresden, sold by the Saxon Royal family after the war* It is one
of a pair made by St* Germain at the order of the Dauphine of France, Maria
Josepha, mother of Louis XVI, for presentation to her father, the King of Saxony,
Another pair of Condeiabro (294) from the Wade collection, in this case silver, made
for the Russian court, bear the inventory number of the palace of Gatchina* Further
289 290 l 291
they have an inscription which states that they were the work of the royal silver¬
smith, Francois Thomas Germain. As the century goes on, design lightens and
becomes more elegant and the ebeniste B. V. R, B, maker of the Table (296) from
the Prentiss collection, gives to his furniture that final touch of distinction which makes
the elaborate seem simple. The upright Secretaire (295) by Boudin 1770-75, a
Severance piece, is transitional; it shows avoidance of the exuberant movement
of the Louis XV period. It still has a reminder of the curved line, but It is moving
toward the more classical designs of the Louis XVI period.
Soft paste porcelain was one of the happy results of the endeavors of French
ceramists to find the secret of hard paste, true porcelain. They used glass frit
instead of the kaolin clay which they later found produced translucent hard paste.
What they did make, however, had a soft and delicate quality of its own and the
pieces have been greatly sought after, ever since, by connoisseur and collector.
One of the earliest fabriques is that of St, Cloud near Paris, and the Dredger (300)
with its soft milky glaze and Chinese patterns, is effectively mounted with silver of
the period. Chantilly was another factory working at same time. Typical of its
products is the Cabaret (303) or Fete-a-Tefe made to serve the great luxury, tea,
which had just come into fashion. It was really tea for two. The designs in brilliant
color are the Japanese Kakemono pattern, then the vogue. Both of these pieces
are Wade, the others are in the Severance collection,
Vincennes, to the south of Paris, was another ceramic center, perhaps the most
highly skilled of earlier ateliers* Quite extraordinary is the Tureen (299) made c.
1752 with its shape derived from silverware and its charming realistic glimpse of a
landscape with flowers, plants, and exotic birds* A later Ewer and Bas/n (302) from
296
297
298
292
293
294
295
299 300 30I
the same fabrique has rare applied flowers and the turquoise color introduced c,
1756, About the same time is the capacious Ghoco/ate Cup and Saucer (304), Sevres
was an outgrowth of Vincennes, the manufactory having been moved there in 1756-
The French loved soft paste porcelain and continued to make it even after they
knew the formula for hard paste, Sevres became the royal manufactory and in
1757 it developed a subtle color, "Rose Pompadour/' made especially for the
King's favorite, Madame du Pompadour, The Tureen and Plotter (301) have the rare
distinction of being one of a matching pair and the form again is taken from designs
by the silversmith, Duplessis,
The first successful result in Europe in the search for a formula to produce true
porcelain took place in Meissen about 1710, One of the last experiments which led
to a final result was made about this time by Boettger who discovered how to pro¬
duce fine hard paste red stoneware. Two pieces, a Vase (309) presented by A & R
Ball, Inc., and a Pilgrim Boft/e (311), Wade, show this characteristic product, one
unpolished, the other polished. From this time on Meissen took a leadership in the
ceramic field in Europe, One of the greatest directors there was Kandler, a sculptor
in his own right, who introduced the making of figurines, and bird and animal figures*
Pieces such as the Parrots (305) Allen collection, mounted in an effective ornio/u
candelabrum with porcelain flowers, and the figure of Harmony, (306), gift of
Judge Untermyer, show the use of color and beautiful modeling. A very early table
service 1737-41 was made to the order of Count Bruhl a famous aristocrat of nearby
Dresden* One of a considerable number of such notable services, it was characterized
by the use of a swan motif and is always called the "Swan Service,” A large Plate
302 303 304
(312) given by Rosenberg & Stiebel Inc* was a pari- of this famous ensemble* A pair
of vases (310), Wade, exquisitely mounted in ormolu in the French taste, are
decorated with tiny applied pale blue flowers and reserved medallions showing
scenes with figures In typical costumes of the time* One of these is dated 1749, and
they were formerly in the J. P, Morgan collection* Typical of some of the many
smaller porcelain factories in Germany were Frankenthal and Furstenberg, one
represented by Ofceanos, (307) a figure in a pure white glaze, the other by a pair
of Italian comedy figures (308) in brilliant color. Both gifts were presented by
A & R Ball, Inc* The Italian comedy served as an inspiration for figures in a number
of the European porcelain factories throughout the 18th century*
The differences between the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles show in a comparison
of the Beauvais tapestry, the Flute Player (313), another Severance piece, dated
1755, and signed by Boucher, with the painted panels (314), given by Grace Rainey
Rogers, from the room by Rousseau de la Rottiere, the favorite decorator of Queen
Marie Antoinette. The asymmetry of the Louis XV style began to go out of
fashion about 1750-55 to be followed by the classically inspired mode of Louis
XVLThe rediscovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum [ust before the mid-century played
a great part in this re-orientation of taste. Balanced patterns are again important,
but this time the detail is based on motifs often taken from Pompeian models. Other
tapestries also show the transition from the design Ideals of the Regency period to
that of the later Louis XV. A Gobelin tapestry, Air and Juno (317), given In memory
of Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, one of a series of Seasons and Elements, has a
balanced early 18th century pattern with baroque detail. In comparison, The
309
310
311
312
305
306
307
♦
v 313 V 314 315
Chinese Fair (318), port of the Prentiss collection, dated c* 1759, has the asymmetry
that would be expected in a design by Boucher. It also bears the royal coat-of-arms.
The classical detail and balance of the Louis XVI period takes over in the bed
(3151,0 Severance purchase, made by Georges Jacob for Marie Antoinette, Both
the head and footboard of this bed, as well as the coverlet, are in white satin
mellowed with the years, and decorated with a Louis XVI embroidered pattern in
point de chametfe after a cartoon by the great textile designer Philljpe de LaSalle,
Another textile designed by him for a chair seat (316) has a chmoiserie subject
framed by a floral garland and a classical beaded molding* The textile (319) of
which only a detail is shown was designed by Jean Demosthene Dugourc, about
1780, for a room in the Royal Palace in Madrid*
The Louis XVI manner shows in a Work Table (320) with tapering fluted legs, by
Martin Carlin and Pafrat, Swags of drapery, rosettes, sprays of leaves, a laurel
border, edgings in ormolu, and the use of a Sevres plaque, express the taste
between 1775 and 1785, when it was presumably made for Marie Antoinette*
A mate to it, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, guards a contemporary label
associating it with the Queen* Earlier in style, somber but very elegant, is the
Commode (321) signed by Rene Dubois, active from 1755 to 1790. The black
oriental lacquer contrasts effectively with the rich ormolu. The Banquette (322), an
“X shaped 1 ' stool, one of a pair owned by the Museum, is from the 36 made for the
Salle des Jeu at Compeigne, ordered by Queen Marie Antoinette from the ebeniste
Sene—they still bear the numbers of the Chateau* A copy of the original covering,
recently woven at Lyon, was secured when the rooms at Compeigne were redone
in the original manner*
320 321 322
The exquisite Table (323) inlaid in satinwood and other exotic woods, emphasizes
their use and is beautifully decorated with classical motifs* A side chair with Beauvais
tapestry (325) is one of a set of four by Georges Jacob, favorite designer of Marie
Antoinette. Similar chairs are in the Petits Appartements at Versailles. A Canape
and six armchairs (324), covered with Aubussan tapestry, are by a younger, less well
known member of that family, H, Jacob* When their lining was removed for cleaning,
newspapers of 1781 were found, as well as the inventory number of the design from
the Aubussan factory, written on the back of a playing card. The suite originally
came from the Polignac family from their hotel, the Hotel CrilJon in Paris. Very
seldom does one find furniture in which the woodwork and its covering are in such
pristine condition. All of the French furniture is either from the Severance, Prentiss,
or Rogers collection, the latter collection given by Grace Rainey Rogers in memory
of her father, William J* Rainey,
American colonial silver is characterized by great simplicity, fine proportion, and
beautiful texture. Derived from English and Dutch models, but tempered to the
simpler tastes of the colonies, it has its own definite personality. The major portion
of the collection was given by the distinguished collector, Hollis French of Ooston*
Perhaps for this reason a large part is of New England provenance. A Spoon (327)
by John Hull and Robert Sanderson is perhaps the earliest piece of silver mode in
this country. With its broad bowl and plain handle, it has the essential simplicity of
the American style, Hull also made the “Pinetree shillings/' the first American coins.
Another famous maker was John Coney; his cup (329) made c, 1700, with scroll
handle and subtly molded body achieves the ultimate in effect with a minimum of
enrichment* Proportion and textures were the ends sought* Edward Winslow was
324
325
323
326 327 328 329
slightly younger than John Coney, but his Tankard (330) shows the earlier style.
Proportion is broad and low which, with the flat top, gives the piece a sturdy quality.
The tip of the handle has the popular mask motif. Moody Russell, a generation later,
was apprenticed to Winslow, and his Beaker (331) for a church in Truro, is typical
of much of the silver made for church use.
Perhaps the most famous silversmith family working throughout the 18th century
was the Hurd family. The father, Jacob Hurd’s Cream Jug (326) with its cabriole legs,
shows mid-18th century character. The engraved and repousse design would not
have appeared earlier. His distinguished bachelor son Nathaniel’s Teapot (332) has
the beautiful line and beautiful engraving for which he was known. His portrait
by John Copley (529) is owned by the Museum and shows him with his arm resting
on a book of heraldry. The Sugar Basket (328) by Paul Revere, famous patriot, is
typically late 18th century in style; here he used the popular fluted boat shape.
Degas, best known as a painter, made many models of dancers in wax, but only
one was cast in bronze during his lifetime. After his death, an edition of 73 of the
best preserved received this fortunate permanence, (334), Hurlbut collection. Degas
succeeds magically in portraying motion; the moment when one movement ends to
flow rhythmically into another. Rodin, his contemporary, a few years younger, was
interested in a related kind of realism. In fact his life size Man of the Age of Bronze
(333), given early by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph T. King, seemed so realistic at the first
showing that the artist was accused of casting from the living model. Today Rodin’s
sculptures are obviously part of the grand tradition. Renoir, like Degas, thought
occasionally in terms of sculpture. The Judgment of Paris (335), a Wade purchase,
330 331 332
334
335
336
333
follows o painting of 1915. Monumental in its conception, it expresses the painter's
interest in volume and opulent form.
Sculptors such as Kolbe, Barlach, and Marcks (337, 339, 340}, all represented
in the Hurlbut collection, added artistic richness to pre-Nazi days in Germany, Each
had that quality of mood and feeling with which German artists interpreted ex¬
pressionism. The famous Roumanian sculptor, Brancusi, recently bequeathed his studio
to Paris. His Torso (338), Hurlbut, expresses well the abstracted simplification of
forms that attracted artists there in the early decades of the century* “Simplicity is
not an end in art. Simplicity is complexity itself.” These phrases explain his art which
goes far beyond the realm of exterior appearances. Jacques Lipchitz was also
brought up under Parisian influences. A great admirer of Rodin, he sees in his own
sculpture a continual rebirth, a continuance in the ever-changing line of tradition. He
came to the United States during the war and found here acceptance and freedom
of expression. His Mother and Child (336), from the Stone Memorial Fund and
Bernard J. Reis, is one of his monumental sculptures on the theme of the family.
The Chavin culture in the North Coast area of Peru was one of the earliest of
the highland centers on the archaic horizon. It was a mother culture affecting local
centers. The Chavin stylized feline motifs appear everywhere, as in the Wade Go/d
Plaque (345), part of a crown, with a flat all-over repousse design. The style is in
essence curvilinear, and straight angular elements only emphasize this. Nearby,
to the south, was the Mochica culture. The Go/d Made (346), from the Humphrey
Memorial gift, probably Mochica, is dated slightly later. The snake motif, and
the stylized mouth with tusks, are obviously holdovers from the Chavin. Much far¬
ther south in a dry non-mountalnous area was the coastal early Paracas culture.
337
338
339
340
341 V- 342 343 40 344
The necropolis there, from which the finds came, has preserved many remarkable
textiles. The painted fragment of a mantle (343), with a procession of six demon
figures wearing maskllke facial decorations, is unique. It is, like the following textiles,
a gift of Mrs. R, H. Norweb. An ensemble of three pieces, mantle, poncho (341),
and headband Is also exceptional, the fringed poncho having a double-headed
bird motif repeated checkerboard fashion, each row facing in alternate directions.
A fragment of mantle (342) has this type of repetition, also; here anthropomorphic
figures with elaborate headdresses bear trophy heads in one hand, and throwing
sticks in the other. Another Faracas piece is a poncho (344) with a brilliant stylized
demon cat wearing a plumed headdress with serpents on either side. The Paracas
textiles show the amazing technical ingenuity of these early weavers who had the
most sophisticated techniques of weaving at their finger tips. Characteristic pottery
was found in Paracas graves and the jug (347), o gift of John Wise, one of two,
has typical Paracas design motifs and the peculiar mustard yellow background color
that is also typical.
The Tiahuanaco civilization was an upland culture in Central Peru on the banks
of Lake Titicaca, It was undoubtedly a development of brilliance as the compara¬
tively few architectural and sculptural remains on the actual site, attest. The textiles
and pottery found at their burial places and preserved, in part, by lack of moisture,
are today this civilization’s most typical remains. The textile designs are characterized
by a strongly geometric approach in which stylization has been carried far, so that
animal and human forms are reduced to a geometric formula. This is very clear in
the well preserved poncho (348) where the design has been so completely abstracted
345
346
347
that the motif of repeated heads is almost unrecognizable. It is a gift of W. R.
Carlisle, like the remarkable pottery garniture of three pieces, a jug and two
beakers (352), which show the ceramics of this culture at their best. A part of their
beauty is their soft texture and high polish. Here again there is marked stylization.
A hat (349), from the Wade collection, has a design divided into squares, each
enclosing stylized bird motifs; it is a tufted tapestry weave. More realistic is the
Humphrey bone mosaic relief (353) which is extremely interesting in its color, purple
and green with ruddy flesh tones. It is Tiahuanaco II, the latter part of the period.
The Chimu culture, 1 Oth-15th century, carried on the use of many motifs, and the
front of a litter (351) shows the mask-like faces, the typical headdresses, and the
ear spools, seen also in the anthropomorphic figure which appears on a large cloth
(not illus.), a gift of John Wise. The late Inca period is well represented by a half¬
poncho (350), a Norweb gift. Here again are geometric designs, and stylized
plant and insect motifs effectively spaced on a denim-blue ground. A delightful
golden monkey (354), now called Mochica, from the Ford Memorial collection, was
used perhaps as an ornamental staffhead, the tail curling around the staff itself.
The Olmec culture in what is present day Mexico was one of earliest. Like Chavin
in northern Peru, it was a mother culture influencing others. One of great centers was
La Venta near Vera Cruz, but it is believed that Olmec influence extended from
the Valley of Mexico to Guerrero and south to the Zapotec region. It dates from the
5th century B.C. to 3rd century A.D. Such sculptures as the Seated Figure (357), a
Norweb gift, of the classic period, have extraordinary resiliency which shows in the
tension of legs and arms; there is repose, yet at same time, vitally suggested move-
351 352 353 354
355 356 357
men!. A fragment of hand and leg was by chance recognized a number of years ago
as a possible part of Cleveland figure. When attached, it was found that, not only did
the stone match. It fitted closely. The Head (358), from Severance collection, with
its rounded forms and variation of the tiger mouth is also Olmec, The same mys¬
terious qualities of expression and resilient modeling found in 357 appear in
the Recumbent Anthropomorphic Figure (356), Humphreys Memorial, with its strange
faun-like ears. It also probably came from the region of Vera Cruz,
In this section between coastline and central volley developed the Totonoc, which,
from Temple ruins there, is now often called the Ef Tajin culture. Powerful and
expressive is the painted Pottery Head (360), gift of Mrs. A. S, Ingalls, with the
hand dramatically painted across the mouth and large typical ear spools. More
characteristic, however, are stylized yokes, Palma stones, axe heads, (359), Wade
collection, creations of this cultural group. The exact usage is an archeological
problem. The Axe Head, In forceful profile, shows the typical deformation of skull,
caused by binding the head when very young. The Wind God (355) given by
Mr. and Mrs, S. D* Wise, is another Totonoc piece in which rugged and vigorous
linear elements express the force of wind itself,
Mayan culture centered in the peninsula of Yucatan, extending its influence into
present day Honduras and Guatemala* A magnificent Head (364) in stone, gift of
Hanna Fund, came from a known monument just west of Temple 22 at Copan, a site
in the southern angle where Yucatan joins Central America. It dates In the early
classic period, 8th century. The features are highly stylized with sloping forehead,
almond eyes, a strong nose, and a dramatic note in the hand laid across jaw and
358 359 360
chin. The effect is increased by a fantastic headdress and great ear spools. It has
the aristocratic quality of high moments in a great civilization. The Vase (365) also
came from Honduras.
From Vera Cruz comes a Ceramic Head (367), the head represented as held
within the jaws of a serpent, the teeth framing it; the open mouth and almond eyes
give a trance-like expression. To the south at Monte Alban near present day Oaxaca,
Zapotec culture reached great development. One of the oldest cultures, its history
goes back to the archaic period. The Seated Figure (366), from Hanna Fund, of
brownish earthenware, second epoch, between 2nd century B,C. and 3rd century A.D.
represents their sculpture at its best. It is almost a replica of the famous scribe of
Cuilapan in the Oaxaca Museum,
The Valley of Mexico has a history that goes back to archaic times. Under the
Toltecs there were notable achievements. At Teotehuacan, temples and pyramids
were built, and characteristic masks appear, with open mouths and expressive eyes
(362), Wade, Later the Aztecs ruled, bringing the area to great artistic heights,
until Montezuma, last of the Aztec rulers, was mercilessly killed by Cortez and the
Spaniards in 1520. Their art was realistic in viewpoint; sculptures such as the Quet-
zalcoafi: Plumed Serpent (363), a Wade purchase, and Xoc hipilli; Flower Prince (361),
a Norweb gift, carved in volcanic stone, show their more realistic stylizations.
Among the most brilliant productions of the Olmec culture were small jades, not
jade in the oriental use of the term, but jadeite. The Cleveland collection is rich in
examples, A piece of the archaic period, (not illus,), contrasts with a seated Figurine
364
365
366
367
(375), o Wade purchase, of the more relaxed classic period, 2nd-Ist century B.C
The typical Olmec characteristics are present; baby face, slant eyes, tiger mouth
with corners turned down, bound and deformed dome-shaped head, and the re¬
laxed resilient pose found in major sculptures like 357, a Norweb gift. These
salient features appear in the tiny dark green jade (370) of pre-classic period
and in the classic pendant (369), both Wade collection. Certainly Olmec, is a
sensitively beautiful Mask (371) from Severance Fund, with a haunting suggestion
of interior life characteristic also of the headless Figufine (372), a Norweb gift.
An eccentric Mayan flint (373), a Severance acquisition, of the classic Great Period
is shown with Mayan jades. How wonderfully the artist has achieved, in this un¬
responsive material, a beautiful abstract shape with strange profiled heads. Two
Mayan jades (36B, 374), Norweb and Humphreys gifts, adapt their designs ad¬
mirably to the limited shapes of the jade chosen. The first (368) from Copan, is an
imperial jade, a head with earspools, in the jaws of a monster. On the reverse
another head is evident. Looked at in profile (374), the typical Mayan nose,
sloping forehead, bound and deformed cranium can be seen. Both pieces have
magnificently treated headdresses*
The immense amount of gold used in Middle America for personal and ceremonial
costumes, and for religious or other uses, staggered the Spanish conquerors. The
New World represented Golconda to them. Tragically, in their greed and avarice,
they looted and melted down untold treasures. Today, therefore, grave finds can
give only an idea of what must have been destroyed. The Quimbaya Indians who
lived in valfey of the Magdalena River in present-day Colombia, were among the
372 373 374 375
i' 97^21
most skillful craftsmen in their use of gold. They had every technique at their finger
tips and used c/re perdue with mastery. A mace head with a crested bird (377)
from the Humphreys Memorial, a pin (378) with magnificent plumes, gift of Mrs.
B. P. Bole, and an amulet (382), a Norweb gift, are characteristic of the rich series
in the Cleveland collection. The motif of spiral scrolls, representing either an elabo¬
rate feather arrangement of headdress, is a typical Quimbaya motif.
Another distinctive culture in Colombia is the Chibcha. Their ornaments (383),
Humphreys gifts, are flat with a linear pattern against a rough background cast in
c ire perdue. They have seemingly very modern stylizations. The Mask (379) with
demon mouth is from nearby Ecuador, a Norweb gift. Quimbaya and other influence
spread northward with trade routes to Panama, and the staffhead with double
puma (376), Wade Fund, was found in Panama, a trade piece from the Sinu region
of northern Colombia. There are many rich sites in the Panama isthmus, one of them
being Code, represented in the Museum by a group of fine pieces. They come from
excavations made by the Peabody Museum of Harvard and the University Museum
of Pennsylvania. The large plaque (381) acquired through Mrs. Norweb, Mrs. A. S.
Ingalls, and Severance Fund, was probably used as a decoration for a garment.
An unusual anthropomorphic figurine (380) with pierced decoration was presented
by Mrs. B. P. Bole.
Benin, capital of the Kingdom of that name, was destroyed by civil war at the end
of the 17th century. However, its art was not known in Europe until 1897, when the
British navy discovered ruins and took ivories and bronzes as war booty. A plaque
(384), Severance collection, and the head of a princess (386), a Dudley P. Allen pur-
380 381 382 383
chase, are representative of this brilliant Negro art* The bronzes were made in
the cire perdue technique, so each is unique. They are one facet of the art of the
Negro and have a definite place, but are quite different from the geometric styli¬
zations that took Paris and Europe by storm in the early part of the century under
the name /'art negre. Much more typical is a Mask (387), a gift of the Kara mu
players, from the Bakuba tribe in the Belgian Congo, Here features are complete
stylizations whose character is accentuated by definite areas of surface decoration
which are Bakuba characteristics.
From the French Sudan comes a mule’s head (385), Ford Memorial, which ex¬
presses the rhythmical and linear qualities that mark Bambara culture. A tattoo¬
like decoration is superimposed on their slender forms, A material much more
adaptable to fineness of detail than the wood or bronze of their sculptures, is gofd.
This was used in many masks or decorative plaques. Most of the pieces come from
either the Gold or the Ivory Coast. The technique employed was cire perdue. This
suite (388), Allen collection, is a typical Gold Coast product from the Ashanti region,
part of the King Prempeh Treasure. A Crocodile (389) is another of the larger
cast gold pieces of Ashanti workmanship. They are always of superior craftsman¬
ship and have a quality of restraint and reserve in their designs. There are also
highly sophisticated pieces from the Baule Tribe of the nearby Ivory Coast (390,
391). These last three objects are Severance purchases*
388 389 390 391
394
393
392
PAINTINGS
European painting had its beginnings in 14th century Italy, developing from manu¬
scripts, mosaics, and frescoes. Schools of painting in each of the independent Italian
cities had their particular regional characteristics. The earliest examples were
executed on wooden panels in egg tempera with backgrounds of elaborately tooled
gold leaf. Siena, in contact with the rich colors and linear flatness of Byzantine art,
adapted the two-dimensional frontal figures found in the well preserved Madonna
and Child (392) by Lippo Memmi, painted about 1345. Lippo’s brother-in-law and
collaborator, Simone Martini, followed the papal court to Avignon in 1339 taking
with him this Sienese mode which, 100 years later, was to become the International
Style—the last flowering of the Gothic.
This decorative style spread over most of Europe in the 15th century. The center
of the International Style in the north was Paris where the Annunciation (395) was
produced about 1390, derived directly from the manuscript style in brilliance, scale,
and detail. Very different and monumental in size is the panel of The Bishop Saint,
Louis of Toulouse (396), with the pinks, greens, and rose-madder of Southern French
painting and based on Simone’s similar panel in Naples. South in Valencia, Spain the
Coronation of the Virgin (397) appeared about 1420 by an anonymous hand desig¬
nated as the Rubielos Master. This panel’s rich coloring is more French than Spanish,
and has definite Italian elements. The unusual position of the dove is peculiar to
15th century French iconography. The International Style in Siena is exemplified by
Giovanni di Paolo’s panel of the Adoration of the Magi (393), painted about 1440.
The Madonna and Child with Saints (394) by Lorenzo San Severino the Younger from
395 396 397 398
399 400 401 402
the Eastern Marches, reflects Sienese elements and those of the Venetian, Carlo
CriveMi. The elaborate |eweMike decorations of his panels such as $f, Nicholas (398)
fused with the serene aspects of central Italian styles in painters like Pinturicchio,
(Madonna and C/i/7d, 402).
The influence of Giotto, emanating from Florence, permeated all Italian painting
from 1250 to 1400, His style is evident in the Franciscan Cross (404), perhaps painted
in Rimini in the early 14th century. Giotto's monumental quality is apparent in the
Madonna (405), attributed to the Master of Ancona. Close to the early 15th century
style of Masolino is the Madonna Enthroned (399) by the Master of 1419. This linear
gothic composition includes certain new three-dimensional elements. The scientific
Florentines sought ways of conveying, on a flat surface, the illusion of air, space,
and solid forms as the eye sees them. Masolino’s contemporary, Masaccio, was
most responsible for the evolution of this new interest in the 15th century. To suggest
deep space Baldovjnetti, his contemporary, placed the figures of his Madonna and
Child (400} in the foreground of a distant Florentine landscape with cypresses on a
hillside and a view of the river Amo.
The completely developed renaissance style appears around 1490 when Botti¬
celli’s pupil, Filippino Lippi, painted the large circular panel or fondo of the Holy
Family with 5t. Margaret and St . John (401) where the difficult balance of a round
composition is maintained. This problem was to present o challenge to Raphael in
the 16th century. Elsewhere distinctive styles evolved, monumental in feeling, exact
and linear in structure, like that of Mantegna in Padua, based on classical Roman
407 408 409 410
prototypes. The interchange of influences brought these characteristics to Siena in
the 16th century, especially to Matteo di Giovanni whose small panel of the Cruci¬
fixion (408) bears Mantegna’s stamp. Likewise in Spain, the transition from the gothic
manner of the Rubielos Master to an early renaissance style is apparent in Jaime
Ferrer's Anm/ndaf/on (406), which also shows Flemish influence.
In the ]500 5 s, the late or high Renaissance reached its peak in Florence. Although
her principal artists, Raphael and Michelangelo, painted in Rome, and Leonardo
da Vinci had gone to the court of France, Andrea del Sarto remained as the chief
exponent of the Florentine School, His large oil pane!, the Sacrifice of Abraham (407),
is the unfinished preliminary version of the picture in Dresden, Andrea went to the
French court of Francis l in 1519 where he painted the Porfra/f of a French Lady
(not illus.), an oil on panel. The date and place of the painting are determined by the
French fashion of the lady's dress. He found at the court the native painters Jean
Clouet and Corneille de Lyon, producing diminutive portraits like the Princess (409).
In Naples the Angevin court brought painters from France; perhaps among them
was the Master of the Annunciation of Aix-en-Provence, whose style, influenced by
the van Eyck's, is reflected in the Portrait of a Man (4TO) by the Neapolitan Col-
antonio del Fiore. Rogier van der Weyden later came from Flanders to Italy in 1450
and introduced the important technical innovation of mixing colors with oil instead of
the egg yok used in tempera painting. Shortly before 1500 Antonello da Messina
took this technique to Giovanni Bellini and others in Venice. Bellini's pupil, Cima
da Conegliano painted many narrative religious oil panels in crystalline colors such
411 412
os the Virgin and Child with Saints and Donors ( 412 ) with his characteristic back¬
ground of Alpine landscape native to the Veneto.
The late flowering of renaissance painting developed in Venice in the 16th century.
Giovanni Bellini created in his later years, around 1500, a calm, idyllic style, with
dear coloring, and incisive drawing influenced by his brother-in-law, Mantegna. His
follower, Bartolommeo Venefo, working in Venice, produced austere pictures like the
Portrait of a Youth ( 408 ) showing the influence of northern painting. He came in
contact with German painting through Duerer who worked with Bellini in the 1490’s
in Venice. In Brescia, Savoldo painted the large panel of the Dead Christ with Joseph
of Arimathea ( 414 ). Savoldo's realism later inspired Caravaggio in the early 17th
century. Nearby in Bergamo, Lorenzo Lotto, a native Venetian, painted his early
Portrait of a Nobfeman (413) in 1525, which owes much to Bellini's influence. Vet,
Lotto remained independent throughout his life by working away from Venice; and
though definitely aware of Titian's dynamic innovations, Lotto’s later Portrait of a
Gentleman ( 418 ) contains his own distinctive persona! approach. Moroni, painting in
Bergamo like Lotto, produced realistic likenesses such as the Portrait of a Gent/eman
and His Wife ( 411 ), toward the mid-century.
Bellini's most gifted follower was Giorgione who initiated a new poetic style
before his premature death in 1510. He influenced the youthful Titian, whose career
covered almost a century. The golden tones of the great classical bacchanals, of his
middle period inspired Rubens and Poussin in the 17th century. Later, Titian developed
a silvery quality in his painting and used a freer technical execution which appears
in the Adoration of the Magi ( 415 ) commissioned around 1560 by his patron, Philip II
415
416
413
414
of Spain, who appears as the first magus. Titian strongly influenced his contemporary
Tintoretto. However, Tintoretto's sculptural rendering of figures (Baptism, 416 ) also
reflects his observation of Michelangelo. The figure of St* John is reminiscent of the
bronze figure of this saint by his friend, the sculptor Sansovino [see 238 ), which is
also owned by the Museum. Tintoretto’s rapid, sure technique permitted his immense
output, and his spectacular use of daring composition prepared the way for baroque
decoration. Jacopo da Ponte, called Bassano, was working in a style closely allied
to Tintoretto’s. Bassano absorbed the composition, dramatic lighting and coloring of
Tintoretto, in his painting Lazarus and the Rich Man ( 421 )* He passed these elements
on to his son Leandro who painted the Entombment ( 420 ).
Domenico Theotocopufi, called Ef Greco, came from Crete imbued with the
hieratic Byzantine style and was influenced by Tintoretto and Bassano. A pupil of
Titian's, El Greco incorporated the rich coloring of his palette in the Holy Family ( 419 )
done in c* 1570, shortly after his arrival in Spain. Forty years later his painting had
become again hieratic like Byzantine art, expressing piety and ecstacy* His intensely
religious and dramatic concept of the Crucifixion ( 422 ) painted in 1610 is the re¬
flection of the Counter-Reformation period* Finally, Paolo Veronese evolved a flam¬
boyant style, recording the splendor of Venice at her height. His great decorations
determined the pattern for the baroque decorative style* Light and glowing colors
permeated all his work, including his serious religious pictures, for example the
Annunciation ( 417 ) of 1560-70.
The coming of the 17fh century baroque style brought a climactic change to
Italian painting. Restrained renaissance motifs derived from classical form, became
420
421
422
417
418
419
423
424
425
more dramatic and eloquent with increased energy and movement* Though the style
of Veronese and the influence of the 16fh century continued, the chief innovation of
the Baroque appeared in Rome through the genius of Caravaggio, His bold realism
included violent contrasts of light and shadow and the use of light from one source,
Strozzi, working in Genoa, knew the painting of Caravaggio and, through early
contacts with Rubens' style, added a warmth of color which became even richer
when he went to live in Venice, Strozzis Minerva (423) has the sensuous quality of
Rubens' work, the rich color of the Venetians, and the sensational dramatic effects of
the Baroque, The Museum owns also the preliminary drawing for the Minerva (573)
which illustrates the spontaneity of Strozzfs compositions. The dramatic intensity of
his later Pieia (426) was derived from the observation of Titian’s great canvas of
the same subject in Venice, which inspired countless versions. One of these Is the
P/efa (427) by Bazzani, who worked in Mantua in the mid-18th century and who
used somber shadows and a rich palette to achieve dramatic effect* The use of light
from one source with contrasting deep shadows heightens the impact of 77?e Sapper
af Emroaus (424) by Piazzetfa, a 17th century painter,
A still later aspect of baroque painting characteristic of the work of the 18th
century, was the use of many small figures, resulting in intricate design in the com¬
position* Magnasco (Synagogue, 430) is an exponent of this style. Although he was
Genoese he worked principally at the Court of the Medicis in Florence, His com¬
positions are of large scope—landscape or interiors filled with many small figures
in a state of constant and frenzied action. The Museum's Synagogue js typical,
crowded with figures in motion, giving the effect of flickering lighf* The works of
426
427
428
429
Antonio and Francesco Guardi in Venice derive some of their characteristics from
Magnasco's influence. Antonio, the painter of Abra/ram Welcoming the Three Angels
(429) takes his colors and types from the traditional Venetian style of Veronese.
Yet there is a manifest nervousness m his figures and a generic relationship to earlier
baroque formulas. It was the younger Francesco Guardi who profited especially
from Magnasco’s lead. The animated, dancing figures which populate his landscapes
or lagoon scenes, as well as such interiors as The Pope Greets the Representatives of
the Serenissima (431), seem to be inspired by Magnasco, although they are even
more the disembodied symbols of motion.
Of all the Venetian baroque painters, it was the last and most dynamic, Giovanni
Battista Tiepolo, who possessed the final flourish of grandeur. Except in the Renais¬
sance no painter of frescoes surpassed his airy mounting evocations or the skillful
perspectives of his decorated spaces. The Museum’s two large oils on canvas
(Horatio Swimming the Tiber , 428), show his narrative versatility. These two paintings
with the small model for the Martyrdom of St, Sebastian (not ill us.) reveal Tiepolo's
powers as a baroque painter. His influence fell upon his sons who aided him in his
most important frescoes, at Wurzburg and Madrid, and especially upon his son
Domenico who, after the death of his father, developed a personal genre style.
This can be seen in Portrait of Lady (425), which is rich with the yellows, pinks, and
blues of reflected light, and even more in his wash drawings.
Hubert and Jan van Eyck working in Bruges were the earliest initiators of the oil
technique in Flanders and the exponents of realism, A native of Limburg, Hubert
shows in his miniatures a contact with the illuminators, Pol de Limbourg and his brother.
431
430
432 433 434 435 436
who were working for Jean, Due de Berry. Painting at the time In Brussels was Rogier
van der Weyden whose style reflected the French temperament of his master, Robert
Campin of Journal. The painting of Rogier and his workshop has an element of
tragedy superimposed upon the van Eyck realism. In the Museum collection is a small
Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John (434) of about 1460-64, attributed to the
unknown master of the Sforza Triptych in Brussels; this panel is very close to the
style of the young Memling when he was working in Rogier’s studio.
Dirk Bouts from the Dutch provinces in the north painted in the van Eyck tradition.
He, or a dose follower, painted an altarpiece for the Lorenzklrche in Cologne. The
altarpiece has since been separated—-three panels are in Munich, and the fourth,
St. John the Baptist (437) in grisaille or monochrome simulating gothic stone statuary,
is owned by the Museum, The next generation produced Geertgen tot Sint Jans,
whose small panel of the Adoration (435) of c. 1490 has a poetic cast. The Madonna
and Child (433} of around 1479 by Memling is a youthful work with a gold and
cloud background and no landscape. The Annunciation (438) by Albrecht Bouts, son
of Dirk, combined the realism of his father with the influence of Rogier van der
Weyden, and is a smaller version of the same subject in Munich. After 1500, the
Flemish style continued and panels such as the Abbof Praying (439) and Saints
Barbara and Catherine (432, 436) by an anonymous hand called the Master of
St. Sang, show strong Italian influences.
The 16th century produced important painters, notably Bosch and Lucas van
Leyden in Holland, and Pieter Brueghel the Elder, in Flanders. After 1600 Rubens,
influenced particularly by the Venetians, revitalized painting through his genius for
437
439
440
441
442
443
draftsmanship, design, and color. His indomitable vigor achieved astonishing pro¬
duction on a large scale in baroque painting. The remarkable panel of his first wife,
/sabe/fa Brant (442) is a small, personal sketch by the artist for himself, about
1620-22. It is executed with thin luminous gtazes and a compelling vitality and
freshness. Anthony van Dyck was the precocious pupil of Rubens; in the 1620 f s as a
young man in Genoa, he accomplished his most gifted series of portraits, among
which is the Genoese Lady and Her Child (443) of 1625, The great size and the rich
palette were inspired by Venetian painting, and the little child in blue is closely akin
to Titian's portrait, tn Berlin, of the daughter of Roberto Strozzk Well known for his
English portraits, van Dyck painted pictures with the elegance of the period such as
the portrait of 5/r Thomas Honmer (440) painted in 1636, when Hanmer was equerry
to King Charles I.
Teniers' Game of Backgammon (450), freely handled and thinly glazed, is typical
of 17th century Flemish genre painting. Protestant Dutch painters were primarily
concerned with their rapidly rising maritime economy. Frans Hals was among the
earliest and most spontaneous exponents of Dutch 17th century painting. Working
in Haarlem, he painted brilliant single and group portraits of cavaliers as well as
portraits of more sober citizens. A Lady in a Ruff (449) of 1636, reflects this sober
side yet shows Hals’s quick brush stroke and facile craftsmanship.
Dutch 17th century artists were concerned with perfection of technique which pro¬
duced the finest of still lifes, genre subjects, and elegant portraits such as the Portrait
of a lady Standing (441) by Gerard Terborch, which characterizes the refinements
of Dutch society of the time. It shares with Pieter de Hooch's The Music Party (44 7)
445
446 447 448
of 1660, the light and shadow, and textural surfaces which gave Terborch and
Pieter de Hooch a reputation second only to Vermeer of Delft* Dutch landscape
painting of the period also formed a fink to 19th century landscape painting*
Aelbert Cuyp's pastoral of Travelers in a H/7/y Landscape (445), a signed picture
painted c. 1650, is a notable achievement of composition with the effective use of
early morning light* Very important were Jacob Ruysdae!, Koninck, and Hobbema,
each painting various aspects of landscape* Hobbema’s Wooded Landscape with
Figures (444) shows observation of trees and woods coupled with a mastery of
cloud effects,
Rembrandt van Rijn was far above any of his contemporaries in Holland, except
Hals and Vermeer* Few painters possessed his depth of characterization in por¬
traiture, or inventive genius. The Museum possesses portraits only,- the first of three,
the Portrait of a Youth (446) is signed and dated 1632, perhaps a self-portrait by
the young Rembrandt It displays the smooth finished style of tils earliest work* Next
in date is the Portrait of a Lady (448) signed and dated 1635, which shows a maturing
in boldness of technique* The third is the Portrait of a Young Student (451) painted
about 1657, in a later mood of quiet thoughfulness and introspection* It epitomizes
the characteristics of Rembrandt's profound late portraiture*
Panel painting in Germany evolved, as elsewhere, in the 14th century’s prevailing
late gothic style, and in various locations* In the north Master Bertram and Master
Frartcke in Hamburg originated the characteristics which spread south and east to
Westphalia, Saxony, Franconia, and as far as Austria. In the Rhine Valley, at
Cologne, were Master Wilhelm, and Stephan Lachner, the German counterpart of
449 450 451
452 453 454
Fra Angelico. In the south of Germany, In the region of Lake Constance, was Conrad
Witz. Bohemian painting was influenced by the International Style, due to contact
with the courts of France and Burgundy in the late 14th century. The Rhine provided
the main artery of contact which brought the influence of Flanders to south Germany
at the end of the 15th century.
The small Austrian triptych of the Adoration (453} shows the naive gothic charac¬
teristics of later 14th century painting, only slightly removed from the stylized work
of the illuminator, with bright, high-keyed color. About 1400, The Death of the Virgin
(452) was painted by an unknown hand called the Master of Helligenkreuz, from
its stylistic association with the altarpiece from the monastery of Heiligenkreuz in
Austria. The artist may have been either Austrian, Bohemian, or French. The pro¬
nounced features, the spidery fingers, the rich-tooled gold, give evidence of a
highly refined style related to French miniature painting of about 1400. Another
Austrian work of 50 years later, the Adoration of the Magi (454) by Conrad Laib,
is related to a group of that master's signed and dated works, and shows Italian
sources. The Museum picture nearest in date to the Heiligenkreuz panel is the
Coronation of the Virgin (456) by the Master of the Frondenberger Altar, a painter
working around 1400 In Westphalia and associated with Conrad von Soest. The
Influence of Hamburg and Master Francke on both Conrad and the Frondenberger
Master is evident in the appearance of the figures. From the Monastery of Schlaegl
comes the Schlaegl altarpiece of 1430-40 (455) containing nine panels: the cruci¬
fixion in the center and four scenes from the Passion on either side. The types are
most nearly those of Master Francke and North German painting, yet there is also
455
456 457 458 459
evidence of the van Eyck tradition, tn southern Germany, in the region between
Einsiedeln and Colmar, worked the monogramist-engraver Master E. S. whose in¬
fluence is evident in such chivatric portraits as the Two tovers (457), painted in the
vicinity of Ulm, c. 1470. Certainly a secular portrait with its miliefleurs background,
this unique panel is of the period if not by Schongauer of Colmar (639, 641), and
of the House-Book Master (192).
At the end of the 15th century lived two outstanding painters, Gruenewald in
Colmar and Duerer in Nuremberg, who influenced all their contemporaries. From
Schongauer, Duerer acquired his engraving style. In Italy he was exposed to the
painting techniques of Giovanni Bellini and upon his return became the principal
exponent of the Renaissance north of the Alps. The Museum owns two drawings by
Duerer (see 579, 580}; and the Adoration (460), a panel by an anonymous artist in
Duerer’s style, called the Master of the Ansbacher Altar. The large pane! of the Mass
of St. Gregory (461) is by Duerer’s associate, Hans Bafdung Grien, and was inspired
by both Duerer and Gruenewald. East, in Regensburg, worked Altdorfer, whose inno¬
vations in landscape make the Danube School on important link with later times. He
knew the painting of Gruenewald, Cranach, and Duerer. The large and late example
of his romantic work is the Vis/fafion (458). The 16th century inherited a portrait
style from these various painters which is illustrated by the example of Frau Poncratz
(459) by Hans Mielich of Ingolsfadf.
The Museum owns a distinctive collection of portrait miniatures, covering all
periods. Among the earliest and most important is a roundel, oil on wood, of Sir
Thomas More (462) by Hans Holbein the Younger, of Basel. He came to England in
46D 461
462
463
464
the 1 520*5 during the reign of Henry VIII and was first employed by More whose
portrait, now in the Frick Collection, New York, he did In 1527. There are several
miniatures of More in existence of which this version may be the latest (1532-34).
The first important British miniaturist was Nicolas Hilliard whose work in the Eliza¬
bethan period of the 157Q p s had spirit rarely attained by others* A large miniature
of unmatched quality painted in varying blue gouaches on parchment is of Sir
Anthony Mi/dmay (463), a full length portrait of Queen Elizabeth’s ambassador to
the court of Henry IV of France, One hundred years later came Samuel Cooper,
whose strong, sketchlike, unfinished miniature of Thomas Hobbes (464) c. 1660, is a
remarkable likeness of England’s great philosopher.
In the late 18th century three noteworthy miniaturists arose: Cosway, Engleheart,
and Smart. Especially important are Young Man in Blue (467) by Smart and ten
drawings that are preliminaries he always completed before beginning a final
portrait in color* The European miniaturists are well represented in the Museum
particularly by a group by the 18th century German, F* H. Fuger whose portrait of
Count Tschernitscheff, the Russian Ambassador in Vienna (465) was painted c* 1785.
The Duchess of Rogusa (466), by the French miniaturist J. B. Isabey, signed and dated
1818, is an example of spirited vivacious portraiture of the Napoleonic era*
Pictorial art in Britain during the 14th and 15th centuries is rare owing to the con¬
tinued strife of the Hundred Years’ War* In the 16th century painters were imported,
notably Holbein, followed by numerous Flemings. An imposing Portrait of a Man
(468), dated c. 1610, gives evidence of its English origin, yet is technically Flemish
in style, and done, perhaps, by Marc Gherhardts who was painting in England at
465
466
467
the time. Later, m 17th century England, Rubens worked at Whitehall, and after him
came van Dyck who remained as court painter to Charles L Following the Restoration
Peter Lely came from Flanders and, while recording the court of Charles II, left an
individual stamp upon English taste. The Portrait of Sarah Earle (?) ( 470 ), by Lely,
is an unusually fine portrait.
Only with the advent of Hogarth in the early 18th century did England produce
a native painter of importance, and only in the second half of the century did a
full scale development take place in the field of portraiture. The greatest painter
of his time in England was Sir Joshua Reynolds, who, like Rubens and van Dyck
before him, created o great portrait style. A characteristic example is The Ladies
Amabel and Jemma Yorke ( 469 ), a large canvas well known from a contemporary
mezzotint engraving. Gainsborough's manner ( Eleanor / Lady Hylton, 473 ) was less
dependent on tradition, and freer and more painterly in its technique than Reynolds'.
There were numerous competent portraitists of the period: Raeburn in Scotland whose
Portrait of General Duncan Campbell [47 4 ) is notable for the typical treatment of
the eyes; and Lawrence whose brilliant technical feats in The Daughters of Co/one/
Thomas Carteret Hardy ( 475 ) exemplified the bravura of brush stroke in painting
used later in the 19th century.
During the late 1 8th century in England, inspired by the Dutch 17th century School,
landscape painting drawn directly from nature again became important. There was,
m addition, a taste for the romantic aspects of Italian art due partly to the popular
continental "grand tour/’ Salvator Rosa's popular and dramatic scenes encouraged
pictures like Ibbetson's Storm behind the Isle of Wight ( 471 ), Gainsborough preferred
471 472
473 4 74 475
painting landscapes to portraits, and created his individual style—fresh and aerial
in quality. Yet it remained for three artists, Constable, Girtin, Turner, to guide the
direction into modern landscape art. A native expression in the art of water color
had gradually come into prominence, and by 1 800 had reached its full flowering
in the work of Girtin and Turner. By abandoning the tradition of the “tinted 11 draw¬
ing, they expanded the technique of the wash. Such examples as Girtin's Entrance
to Dover Harbor (472) reveal his powers of free and vigorous interpretation of
nature. Turner, who began painting landscapes alongside Girtin, lived to transform
his work, in a naturalistic vein, into stylizations and imagery. He painted scenes
such as the Burning of the Houses of Paliament (476), which he actually witnessed in
1 834. The Museum also owns an important Turner water color of Alpine scenery
(F/ue/en, 477). Turner’s treatment of color and the technique of his contemporary
Constable were later to have profound influence on the French Impressionists.
By 1600 Caravaggio had already revolutionized Italian painting and changed
the course of European art. Rubens and van Dyck shortly after, through their inter*
pretations of the Venetian tradition, altered northern styles profoundly. In France, at
the court of Louis XIV, an academic eclecticism appeared to foster a strongly
regimented taste. France’s greatest 17th century painters, Poussin and Claude
lorrain, could not fit into this milieu. Both went to Rome and remained self*exiled for
life; both became imbued with the classical spirit and transformed it, in terms of
Venetian painting, Titian and Raphael were, consecutively, Poussin’s models. The
Landscape with Nymphs and Satyrs (479), painted early in the 1 630’s, shows the
influence of Titian. Only slightly later, 1 640, is the Flight into Egypt (478). Also
476 477
478
479
480
Venetian in character, it shows contact with Domenichino, the Bolognese eclectic.
Claude Gellee, Lorrain, was entirely concerned with landscapes. However, as a
concession to the tastes of his time, Claude introduced small groups of figures—
always secondary and often painted by another hand. With figures by Jan Miel,
The Roman Campagna near Tivoli ( 482 ), dated 1636, is in the cool, silvery palette
of his early work. Provincial schools in France, outside of Paris, produced genre
painters like the Le Nain brothers and Georges de La Tour, whose connections with
Italian painting came either directly from Italy or from Flemings like Honthorst who
painted in Rome and knew Caravaggio’s work. The tenebroso use of light effects,
subdued and from one source, is to be found in La Tour’s Repentant St. Peter ( 480 ),
a canvas unknown until recently but fully signed and dated 1645.
French painting in the 18th century developed a style as distinctive as any in its
history. Under the extravagant patronage of Louis XV and influenced by the demands
of his pleasure-loving court, the Rococo Style evolved to express the spirit of the
time. The chief painter was Antoine Watteau, who transformed the rich painting
style of his compatriot, Rubens, into the delicate and refined fetes galantes which
reflect the court life of the period. La Danse dans un Pavilion ( 484 ) is typical of these
small, glowing pictures. Pinks, yellows, and greens, laid on with lively, short brush
strokes, create an atmosphere of poetic romance. Lancret was his most talented
follower. In addition to Declaration of Love ( 486 ), the Museum owns five of his
decorative canvas panels, used in 1 8th century houses. Two of these playful decora¬
tions are illustrated: The See-Saw ( 487 ) and The Swing ( 489 ). Boucher, the most
rococo in spirit of the group, delighted in frivolous classical themes, pufti , doves,
--si
484
485 486
garden scenes, and suggestive boudoir subjects. His overdoor panel, Cupids in
Conspiracy (488), is composed with □ decorative facility of great appeal. Nattier,
his contemporary, pursued the more serious aspects of portraiture. His Mile, de
SaYtgny (481) is an example of unusual quality. The fotlowing generation, the period
of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, produced a number of competent artists such as
Drouais who is admirably represented in the portrait of Mme. D’A/guirandes (483),
dated 1759. Watteau's only peer was Fragonard, who is noted for his great series
of decorative panels, remarkable portraits, and genre subjects. His feeling for the
tenderness of youth, golden hair, innocent eyes, and luminous skin Is seen in the small
portrait of a Young Boy Dressed in a Red-Lined Cloak (485 )♦
The late 18th century brought a sharp change in taste, notably in France. Winckle-
mann’s excavations in Italy around 1750 revived an interest in the ancient art of
Greece and Rome, which affected the styles of the Louis XVI period. During the
French Revolution and the empire of Napoleon, Roman art and civilization, particu¬
larly, were much admired. David was the dominant figure in neo-classic painting
during the first half of the 1 9th century. Napoleon commissioned him to execute
large battle pieces, classical themes, and clear vigorous portraits, like that of
Gtoyenne Crouzef (492). Throughout the century, David's follower, Ingres, con¬
tinued as the most important leader, aggressively championing the linear style,
based upon the concepts of Raphael. The classical mode, stressing form and re¬
pressing color, became the ideal of the ruling French Academy. It was pursued by .
accomplished artists like Couture as seen in his Odalisque (491), as well as by many
less worthy.
487 488 489
The 19th century was to foster, against the Academy, a great romantic revolt
which stressed individual freedom of expression above all. The Spaniard, Goya,
forming the link between the 1 Sth and 1 9th centuries, played the first decisive role
in this emancipation. During his long life-span, he developed, from the traditional
style, a broadly achieved technique and became, at the end of his fife, one of the
chief influences on modern painting* His portrait of Don Juan Antonio Cuervo (490),
his architect friend, presents a vigorous portrayal and analysis* His legacy of
Romanticism to Gericault and Delacroix appears in the former's Raft of the Medusa
in the Louvre, which revolutionized visual representation. Delacroix's embodiment of
Rubens 1 rich color and brushwork was the antithesis of Ingres; his Haft of the Greek
Cavaliers (493) painted in 1 858, evokes the romantic concept as does the Turkish
Vessel (494) by his follower, Eugene Isa bey.
In the 1 830’s a group of artists called the Barbizon School went to the French
countryside near Barbizon, a small village at the edge of the Fontainebleau forest
near Paris, to work directly from nature. Since 1900, the enthusiasm for Millet,
Daubigny, Theodore Rousseau, Diaz, and other Barbizon painters has abated some¬
what, as these men have fallen into a less important place in the over-all develop¬
ment of French 19th century painting. The Coast near Vtllerville by Charles Daubigny
(496), a descriptive landscape, was painted on the northern coast of France where
Daubigny spent the summer in 1 855. He and his school, important for their on-the-
spot observation of nature, were influenced by the Dutch 17th century landscape
painters and by Turner (476, 477) and Constable, Contemporary with Daubigny
was J*B,C Corot, whose work spans most of the century. Although he is often men-
490
491
493
495 496
tioned as one of the Barbizon School, his landscapes have not their literal and
laborious struggles. He was interested in the structural compositions of Nicolas
Poussin (478, 479) whose influence can be felt in his early architectural landscapes
and the later figure pieces such as the firmly modeled Wo man Meditating (485)
dating from c. 1860-65. Eugene Boudin, a marine painter closely associated with
Impressionism as the teacher of Claude Monet, painted At The Seashore (497) about
1 864 with the freshness of outdoor observation.
Edouard Manet, the forerunner of Impressionism, brings into French painting the
influence of Velasquez, Goya, and Spanish painting. Although his later work in
the seventies until his death in 1 883 was contemporary with the work of the Im¬
pressionist painters, he was of an older generation and technically more in the realist
tradition as is shown in the pastel portrait of Mile . Claire Campbell (498), executed
in 1 880. Puvis de Chavannes extended the neo-classic tradition of David and Ingres
throughout the 19th century, until his death in 1 898. His conservative style with its
pastel shades and quiet, almost monumental quality was well adapted to mural
decoration. His Summer (499), painted in 1891, has passages that appear in his
murals in the Hotel de Ville in Paris. Fantin-Latour also represents the more con¬
servative element of the later 1 9th century, as well as an extension of Romanticism,
in his oil canvas of Tannhauser (500). This picture, exhibited in the Salon of 1886,
probably was partially repainted by the artist before it was sold in 1891 to
Mr. Wade in Cleveland.
In the 1 860’s France saw the first development of the Impressionist School. Before
the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, early pictures by these men were very different
497 498
499
500
from one another in feeling, but they were already breaking away from the realist
tradition of Courbet and Manet. Mile. Lacavx (501) by Renoir was painted in the
summer of 1864. By this date Renoir had left the Limoges Porcelain Manufactory
where he had been an apprentice. It was the knowledge of this craft, combined with
Impressionism, that helped to develop his deep and luminous color style. In Mile,
Lacaux , the fragile skin tones and delicate color fusions were already in evidence.
Spring Flowers (502), one of Claude Monet's earliest dated paintings, was painted
in the same summer. This mass of flowers is painted with botanical exactness, still
showing the influence of the realist Courbet, Impressionism derived its name from
the derogatory criticism directed toward Monet's painting, Impressions—Sunrise, in
the First Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in 1874,
These painters, like the realists of the older generation, believed in painting
what they saw, but in addition the style implies the use of scientific theories of point¬
ing in pure color, following the color experiments of the mid-19th century. The Im¬
pressionists were interested In the optical illusion of what the reflection of sunlight did
to colors and forms. They applied pure color in daubs with a broken brushwork
technique, which from a distance blended to give the illusion of form. They were no
longer interested in line and block shadows but found that shadows were not the
absence of color but the complementaries of colors,
Claude Monet's Ant/bes (503), painted In 1 888, and Le Fond de FFIermifage (505)
by Camille Pissarro, dated 1 879, exemplify the characteristics of pure Impression*
ism. In the strict sense only to Monet belongs the inherent idea and the great inno¬
vations within the style. Pissarro retains the more traditional aspects of French land-
502
501
/
503
504 505
scape painting and others such as Degas and Renoir, although they are associated
with the general group, were interested only in certain aspects of Impressionism,
primarily the luminous palette, Berthe Morisot, whose oil painting, Mme. Pontiilon
(504) was painted in 1873, was associated with the group largely through her
marriage to the brother of Edouard Manet.
The importance of Degas’ work is perhaps the result of his having drawn from so
many facets of 19th century French painting. Underlying his style is his emphasis on
drawing and his interest in the classic tradition of Ingres. The Frieze of Dancers (506),
painted by Degas about ] 883, shows his deviation from Impressionism with bold
patterns of strong orange, accents of green, and black lines which emphasize the
motion rather than the actuality of the figures. The Ballet Girls (509), painted in
1 897, is more typically Impressionistic in technique, and both paintings show the
influence of the Japanese print on Impressionism in the treatment of perspective
and composition, Renoir inherited the French 18th century sensuous spirit and the
coloristic tradition of the 19th century romantics, adding the technical resources of
Impressionism, Typical of the coloristic structure of his nudes is the Three Bathers (507),
painted in 1 897,
Several of the post-impressionists went through Impressionist periods but went on
to develop widely varying styles in a more subjective manner; an interest in structure
in the case of Cezanne, a more emotional approach in the work of van Gogh and
Toulouse-Lautrec, a decorative manner in the painting of Gauguin. Ce zanne wps by
far the greatest, and his simplification of nature to essential structural planes made
Cubism possible in the 20th century. The Pigeon Tower (508) on the estate of his
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508
brother-in-law near Aix-en-Provence, shows Cezanne's interest in the relationship of
shapes to one another and is a fundamental statement of a natural object not limited
by artificial conditions. Toulouse -Lautrec , wealthy descendant of the Counts of
Toulouse, suffered a physical deformity from an accident in his youth; for compensa¬
tion he sought out the sordid life of Montmartre from which his subject matter was
usually taken* At Boileau (510), an employee of a Paris scandal sheet, is unquestion¬
ably a comment on a life he knew well* This gouache on cardboard was painted
about 1 893 with his typical facile brushwork Paul Gauguin, also at odds with
conventional life, escaped from his brokerage office and family to the South Seas
where he painted L'Appel (511) in the Marquesas in 1 902* He was possessed by the
exotic flavor of his surroundings* His painting expressed his subjective and idealized
world in decorative patterns and bright colors*
The work of Odilon Redon is characterized by strange impressions of a mystical
world* The pastel of Orpheus (512) was painted at the end of his lif e, about 1914-16*
He represents an important link between the symbolist group that grew up around
Gauguin and the younger generation of Vuillard and Bonnard to follow* V an Gogh *
the last of the post-impressionists represented here, was bom in Holland* His early
life was a series of failures in art dealing, and evangelism* From 1 886, until his
death four years later, he painted at a feverish rate between severe attacks of
mental illness and during convalescence at the hospital of St, Remy, in southern
France* The Road Menders (513), painted in 1889, is one of his most intense land¬
scapes with turbulent brushwork in violent yellows, greens, and brown* Henry-
Julien Rousseau, called the^Douanier” because he had been a minor customs inspector.
510
511
512
513
514
515
was the contemporary of Cezanne and Renoir, but can not be classified in any
group and had no formal training* The Jungle ; Tiger Attacking a Buffalo (515) was
painted in 1908. His naive landscapes and well-organized design, blown up beyond
natural scale, have a curious primitive feeling in their bold color and stylized
animals and foliage.
Bonnard and Vuillard were closely associated in the 1 890's with a group of
artists who, like Redon, were guided by the symbolist theories of Gauguin, but they
represented their interest in the intimate side of human life through color rather than
linear accuracy* In 1894 Vuillard was commissioned by Alexandre Natanson to
execute o series of “distemper" decorations for his dining room, using the gardens
of Paris as the subject* Under the Trees (514), one of these, creates a series of
textured, flat, decorative patterns. Bonnard who painted The Dessert (516) in 1921,
believed that for the simplest and most intimate idea there was a colorful and
decorative method of expression.
As early as 1 905, Matisse had been a leader of French 20th century painting*
His Flower Festival at Nice (5! 7), painted in 1924 portrays a carnival scene on the Rivie¬
ra as viewed, probably, by his wife and daughter at the left of the canvas. His interest
in pleasure, light, and movement, is apparent in the Interior with Etruscan Vase (518),
painted in 1940* Never a painter to reduce his subject matter to the abstract forms
innovated by his contemporaries Picasso and Braque, he developed an increased
simplicity of design in the 16 years between these two paintings—even more
exuberant color, but always the same sense of order and pattern, Matisse was
the undisputed leader of the so-called School of Paris in its early phase* Up to
519
the present time, this loosely-knit group includes many important artists, not necessar¬
ily French-born, who came to Paris to work, Georges Rouault was painting in Paris
when the Douanier Rousseau was achieving his belated fame. Rouault developed a
highly independent and consistent style with brilliant colors and black mullioned out¬
lines. His Head of Christ (523), painted between 1935 and 1937, is a reflection of
the painter’s deeply religious character Modigliani, suffering from tuberculosis,
came to Paris from the ghetto of Leghorn, Italy and lived a life of vagrancy. His
elongated figures and portraits, such as the Portrait of a Girl (520), were determined
by a subtle balance of curves and complete pictorial simplification,
Picasso continues to be the great innovator of the 20th century. La Vie (521), of
his Blue Period, was painted in 1903 in Barcelona and the Reclining Figure (5T9) is
a gouache of his Pink Period of 1905, From 1907 to the present time he launched
into experiments in Cubism—an inevitable and logical reaction to the contemporary
industrial period™returning intermittently to a more disciplined, classical style.
Along with Rivera, Orozco stands apart and above his Mexican contemporaries
as an interpreter of the social changes in his country. The Wounded Soldier (522),
painted at the height of his career in 1 930, is in the monochrome colors of blacks
and browns.
Painting in the American colonies was unimportant until the end of the 17th
century. Robert Feke was among the first trained painters to arrive from Europe. In
Boston in 1 707 he began a series of accomplished portraits of colonial personalities,
of which the stately Boston Tory, Charles Apffrorp (526), signed and dated 1748, is
typical. Trained In London in the style of Kneller, John Smibert settled in Boston in
524 525 526
1729. His portrait of Mrs. Thomas Bulfinch (525), the grandmother of the famous
architect Charles Bulfinch, illustrates the pose and costume of the time. Joseph
Blackburn followed in the middle of the 18th century; his awkward portrait formula
became the familiar style in the New England of pre-Revolutionary days. Mrs.
Theodore Atkinson (524) one of the two Blackburn portraits in the Museum collection,
is austere, yet has the elegant manner which prevailed, until competition from the
more versatile Copley drove Blackburn back to England.
By far the greatest of the New England painters, Copley^was American-born and
the style of his early work is less facile but infinitely stronger than the polished
manner that followed his sojourn in England. The two fine examples in the Museum’s
collection belong to this period. The earliest, dating from 1765, is that of Nathaniel
Hurd (529), a friend of Paul Revere and also a silversmith, whose teapot is to be
seen in the Hollis French collection of silver (see 332); the second is that of Mrs.
John Greene (530), 1769, the daughter of the governor of Rhode Island. The por¬
trait of Hurd is especially vital in its clear, firm and direct manner, so far from the
tradition of his contemporary in England, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Copley’s contempo¬
rary, Benjamin West, went to England where he succeeded Reynolds as president
of the Royal Academy in London. His work was essentially English rather than
American colonial painting. He excelled in painting large historical canvases as
well as portraits such as the one of Mrs. West and Her Son Raphael (532).
The most distinguished portraitist of the new Republic was Gilbert Stuart. One of
the Museum’s five canvases by Stuart, the portrait of Mrs. John Thompson Mason
(528) shows his subtle interpretation of the sitter. Stuartjeft to his successors a
527 528 529
530 531 532
legacy of competence which underlies the painting of the first half of the 1 9th
century apparent in the Portrait of Captain Jean T, David (534) by Thomas Sully
dated 1813, Aside from the familiar painting of George Washington by Stuart,
numerous other portraits of the president were made during his lifetime. The Museum
owns two: the first painted by Joseph Wright (527) in 1790, and the second,
Washington at the Battle of Princeton by Charles Willson Peale (not Hlus,), Throughout
the 19th century itinerant painters wandered about the countryside painting religious
and secular subjects. One of these, Edward Hicks, was a Pennsylvania Quaker* The
Museum owns one version, painted in 1 830, of his series of Feaceab/e Kingdoms
(531).
Entirely self-taught, Thomas Cole, emigrating from England as a young man, was
influenced particularly by Claude Lorrain and Poussin. His direct inspiration was
his enthusiasm for the Hudson River landscape. From this region came the name,
Hudson River School, which was attached to Cole and his contemporaries* The
Catski// Mountains (533), signed and dated 1831, is an example of this school at
Its best. With the opening up of the West, new territories were portrayed by a
western extension of the Hudson River tradition—romantic documentation of
America’s age of expansion.
The last half of the 1 9th century was a prolific one for a variety of lan dscape
painters. The work of Cole as well as the Barbizon painters was studied by George
Inness. Approaching Storm from Alban Hills (536), painted near Rome between 1 870
and 1875 shows his interest in changing weather conditions. The American land-
scapisf's romantic interest in subject matter was greater than his interest in light
533 534
535
536
reflections and technique, therefore, the experiments of French Impressionism had
little influence in the United States until the late 1 890’s. Although the late work of
George Inness approached Impressionism, his was not a technical interest, but a
reaction against the naturalistic generation of landscapists, and an expression of
lyricism and atmospheric effect.
Many American painters including Kensett took the European tour (1840-47),
Returning home, he painted naturalistic landscapes such as the View Near Newport
(537), which is small but otherwise typical of his Narrogansett series. Martin Johnson
Heade journeyed over most of South America working on a projected book on
Hummingbirds, and produced a series of oils in vivid colors of tropical birds and
flowers. High Tide on the Marshes (539) exemplifies his keen interest in nature and
light and was probably purchased directly from the artist by Htnman B, Hurlbut
whose American paintings came to the Museum. Eastman Johnson's warm and
objective observation of human life is represented here in Winding Yarn (535),
painted in 1 872. Johnson had the usual European education. With the subdued
tonalities of Dutch genre painting, he approaches the rich brown realism of Eakins
and the early work of WinsJpwLHomef^
Duveneck and William Merritt Chase returned from studying in Germany with a
thorough training in the realism of the Munich School, Chase accepted a teaching
position with the Art Students' League in New York and later taught at his own
summer school at Shinnecock, Long Island. His influence veritably permeated the art
life of America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of his first private
pupils is represented in the decorative Portrait of Dora Wheeler (538), painted in
1 883, Duveneck is associated with Cincinnati where he was head of the Art Academy
537 538
539 540
for 25 years until his death in 1919, His Venetian Girl (540) with the selective realism
of the Munich School is also influenced by the palette and bravura of Hals and
Rembrandt.
Thomas Eakins studied and later taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts* His studies at the Jefferson Medical College helped him acquire a detailed
knowledge of anatomy! for Eakins felt that no painting could be significant without
a factual understanding of the subject matter. Although undoubtedly aware of
French Impressionism there is no suggestion of it in his paintings or portraits* He was
interested in a realistic approach with glazes built up to give a transparent clarity
to his forms as in the Turning the Stake Boat (541), painted In 1 873* In the early 20th
century Albert P. Ryder was dismissed as merely a romanticist, but he is now placed
among the pioneers of the early 20th century. In his tiny studio on 10th Street in
New York, amid incredible disorder, he painted Death on a Pale Horse (542), about
1910* Around the track rides Death, a phantom figure on a phantom horse, with the
curving track suggesting the relentless repetition of the racetrack, a subject suggested
to him by the suicide of an acquaintance who had lost his savings on a horse race.
Apart and alone, Ryder put layer upon layer of paint on the same canvases, reveal¬
ing his poetic dreams and thoughts rather than the life around him.
Winslow Homer, Eakins, and R yder are the three most significant painters of the
turn of the century* As well as several Homer water colors, the Museum owns two of
his oils: The Briarwood Pipe (543), one of his early Civil War pictures dated 1 864,
and Early Morning After a Storm at Sea (549), dated 1902. The Museum has Homer s
letters which reveal that he considered the seascape "the best picture of the sea"
that he painted, Winslow Homer’s vision of America’s natural heritage produced
541 542
543 544 545
magnificent luminous interpretations. In the Museum's seascape he paints the powerful
sea and sky in a pattern almost flat in design.
Childe Hassam went to Paris in 1886 and, along with Theodore Robinson, brought
back the broken brushwork and Impressionistic attitude toward light. Hassam’s
Fifth Avenue Nocturne (545) was painted about 1895. He lived until 1 935, but his
later works are less interesting, William Glackens, as a painter and illustrator for
newspapers and monthly magazines, not only viewed the nineties in America
with a fresh and youthful eye, but left a pleasing record of his time in such paintings
as The Drive , Centred Park (544), painted around 1905, This painting illustrates the
influence of Manet in its brushwork and palette. He later fell under the influence of
Renoir in his use of hot red tones.
At the turn of the century the Americans Whistier^Same jit, and the Impressio nist,
Mary Cassatt, remained in Europe. Mary Cassatt arrived in France in 1 868, became
part of the French Impressionist group and was respected and influenced by Degas.
She played an important part in persuading Americans to buy French Impressionist
paintings in the 1 890's. La Sortie du Bain (546) executed with warm understanding
in an Impressionistic technique is characteristic of her choice of subject matter, J, Alden
Weir was also interested in the problems of Impressionism. Budding a Dam, Shetucket
(548) painted in 1 908, was the typical quiet New England scene that Weir loved
to paint.
The revolt against the second-generation Impressionists was initiated by a group
of painters called 'The Eight. 11 They were joined together through common interests,
friendship, and a background of newspaper illustration, but they were divergent in
style. Glackens, Luks, and Bellows, among others, spurned the academic approach of
546 547
548 S49
the 1 9th century painters. Whereas GJackens was more interested in the gay life of
the elegant New Yorker, Luks brought into his work the common everyday theme,
often with □ vulgar element, always with truthful vigor. Luks's genius lay in his sim¬
plicity of composition. Even in the painting of groups in a landscape such as Holiday on
the Hudson (54 7), painted about 1909, there is a generalization of detail. George
B ellows, th e youngest of “The Eight,” was living on Broadway opposite the Sharkey
Athletic Gub when he painted Stag at Sharkey's (550) in 1 907. Bellows' virile and
bold work, perhaps at its best in lithographs, was brought to an abrupt end by his
early death in 1925. By date of birth Edward Hopper is contemporary with this
group, but he matured slowly and is still painting with a disciplined consideration
and restraint. He made observations of the American people and the countryside
like Hills, South Truro (551), painted on the Cape in 1930, in which he expressed a
quiet dignity and atmosphere, independent of the turbulent struggles of his con¬
temporaries.
Preston Dickinson was an important painter in the 1920’s. His Still Life (552), one
of three owned by the Museum, was influenced by Cubism—the breaking down of an
object into essential planes and reassembling the component parts info a significant
design. In a painting, such as this Still Life, the innovations of Cubism allow the
spectator to see an object from more than one point of view. Marsden Hartley was
susceptible to many influences; he studied with William Merritt Chase and was
influenced by Ryder. He saw the earlier development of Cubism in France but was
drawn toward the German Expressionists, especially Franz Marc. After returning to
New England in 1915, he went on exploratory trips around the country and it was
on one of these that he painted landscape. New Mexico (553), in 1923. Hartley’s
550 551
552 553
style, often associated with the landscape of Maine, is cold, austere, and powerful
in design and color.
John Marin, who understood and interpreted the industrial skyscrapers of this
country, also carried on the tradition of Winslow Homer in his seascapes. In addition
to five water colors, the Museum owns the oil, Rocks and Sea, Small Point Maine
(554), painted in 1931. An acute observer of nature, Marin had an intimate
knowledge of her continual change. From the Impressionists, Cezanne, and the
Cubists, he took what he needed for his highly subjective style. The site of Max
Weber’s Deserted Farm (555), painted in 1942, was the Great Neck Peninsula in
Long Island Sound where be settled in 1929. Of Russian-Jewish background, Weber
was one of the earliest exponents of abstract art in this country, but he has always
used it as a tool of expression rather than as an end in itself
Charles Burchfield studied between 1911 and 1916 at the Cleveland School of
Art. He was born in Salem, Ohio where he returned for an interim before moving to
a suburb of Buffalo, New York where he still resides. Among the several water
colors in the Museum collection. Church Bells Ringing, Rainy Winter Night (556), dated
1917, is one of his early romantic fantasies. After a period of broader realism in
the 1930’s Burchfield in the last 15 years, has turned back to these fantasies,
reworking and enlarging them.
The following four paintings were purchased by the Museum from The May Show
of Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen, an annual exhibition at the Museum since 1918.
Storm Frightened Animals (557) by Henry Keller, the teacher of Burchfield, was
painted in 1933, showing his masterly draftsmanship of animals, a result of his
studies at the Dusseldorf School in Germany, His contribution as an artist, and his
554 555
559
560
556
557
558
43 years as an active member of the staff of the Cleveland Institute of Art, were
unquestionably a major factor in the flowering of Cleveland Art. William Sommer
possessed great imagination and originality in his water colors of horses, farms,
children, and still life. In his studio in the Brandywine country, south of Cleveland, he
painted Horses in Snow (559) about 1933, with sensitive line, and blocked-in
delicate transparent washes. William Eastman preferred landscape subjects and
painted in Italy, the Balearic Islands, France, and Norway. He was a prominent
teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Art and painted The Studio Table (558) in
1926. The St. Clair Fire (560), painted in 1944 by Carl Gaertner, expresses, with
rich coloristic effect, the horror of that disaster. Until his death in 1953, Gaertner
was also a teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Winslow Homer worked independently of foreign influence, though he paralleled
in time and development the Impressionist movement in France. Two years in England,
and a brief visit to Paris in 1867 left him singularly unaffected. Homer began using
water color after 1 870, and the Museum has three examples of his first efforts in
this medium, among them Boy with the Anchor (561). This water color belonged to
John Hay and then to a member of his household, where it remained unknown for
60 years, until recently.
John LaFarge was a painter, illustrator of books, lecturer, and writer, but is
probably best known for his stained glass and mural decorations. His remarkable
sense of harmony and intense religious and mystical fervor, combined with the
richness and depth of color found in his stained glass, are also seen in the water
color, Rishi Calling up a Storm (562). It was executed in the middle eighties when he
visited Japan with Henry Adams or soon after. In the Japanese legend, Rishi is the
561 562
name for the Immortals whose magic powers are obtained through asceticism and
meditation on Taoist teachings.
Maurice Prendergast was already working seriously in the 1 890's. Older than
the other members of “The Eight/’ he was in revolt against the academicism of the
late 19th century. The water color. May Day, Central Park (563), dated 1901,
exemplifies the tapestry effect in his water colors achieved by the application of
mosaic-like daubs of color—a personalized extension of Impressionism. George
Overbury Hart, called “Pop” Hart, was largely self-taught. He traveled extensively
and was strongly influenced by French 19th century painting. In his water color.
Fireworks (564), painted in 1929 and one of two in the Museum water color collection.
Hart has absorbed, in his own style, the romanticism and technical lightness of
Impressionism,
Morris Graves comes from the Pacific Northwest. In his youth he made three trips
to the Orient, gathering impressions of the Hawaiian Islands, Japan and China.
The tempera painting of the Wounded Scoter, No. 2 (565), painted in 1 944, shows
his compassion for animals, John Marin’s water color, Mountain Top (566), one of
four in the collection, was painted at Mt, Chocorua in New Hampshire; it reflects his
interest in the structural elements of his subjects, whether steel skyscrapers in New
York, or the mountain rocks and sea in New England.
565
566
DRAWINGS
The Museum's small select collection of drawings, covering all periods, has for
its earliest representation a group of Italian 15th century drawings* A F/orentine
double-sided page (568) attributed to Benozzo Gozzoli contains a series of sketches
of heads, and a flying angel associated with one of Benozzo's frescoes in the Medici
Chapel in Florence* This sheet can be identified as a missing page from a group of
silver-point drawings, bound together, called the "Koenigs Sketchbook," now in
Rotterdam* They are typical of the 1 5th century in their careful rendering. Slightly
later in date is a pen and ink sketch for the Funeral of Sf. Stephen (569) by Domenico
Ghirlandaio which is related to a section of the pulpit in Santa Croce, Florence, by
Benedetto da Maiano who worked closely with Ghirlandaio. At the same time in
North Italy there was the important center at Padua where Mantegna created the
vigorous pen and ink style of which his Sf* Chr/sfopher (567) is a characteristic type
with monumental scale and low horizon perspective, related to his Eremitani Church
frescoes.
Among the Museum's 1 6th century drawings is a red-chalk study (570), one of
a group of preliminary sketches by Michelangelo for the Sistine ceiling in the Vatican
on which he worked from 1 508 to 1512, The principal figure here in the drawing is
one of the "ignudi" or athletes* Del Sarto and Pontormo carried on the tradition of
the linear Florentine style into the 16th century. The Figure of a Woman (571) in red
chalk by Pontormo is a typical illustration of this linear style. New viewpoints of the
17th century are found in Strozzi's Sketch (573) for the museum's oil, Minerva , in
which the vigorous dynamic line shows Strozzi's awareness of the new realism of
Caravaggio, and the linear power of Rubens*
567 568 569 570
In the 1 8th century, Piazzetta transformed these elements into a later phase* The
most interesting of his drawings were the large, superbly finished portraits of one or
more heads, in black chalk heightened in white on tan-gray charcoal paper, one
of the most celebrated of which is the Fiorettin d'Amare [57 2). His models, ordinary
people from contemporary life, were frequently repeated and often appeared
in his oils*
Piazzetta’s pupil, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, one of the greatest draftsmen of the
1 8th century, worked chiefly in bister wash, in which he invented a style so luminous
that it surpassed anything previously attained. The Flight into Egypt (574), is a
notable example. Of his sons, it was Domenico who emerged as an artist in his own
right after his father’s death* Although primarily interested in recording the Venetian
scene around him, in the various series of drawings he did, he allowed his imagina¬
tion free play* "Pulcinella," a particularly fanciful series, is a sequence of 104
drawings of which the Museum owns nine. Full of humor and contemporary comment,
as in the Game of Bowls (575), they illustrate Venetian customs and manners in
terms of the Commedia dell’Arte*
Topographical drawings were sought after in 18th century Italy, when Canaletto
was the outstanding artist. As Piranesi did in Rome, Canaletto recorded, exactly, the
beauties of Venice. Invention in architecture also engrossed his efforts in the highly
finished imaginary Palace on the Shore of the tagoon (576). Where Canaletto
recorded exactly, Francesco Guardi interpreted with dramatic spirit. Whether he
repeated the familiar drawing of the Piazza San Marco (577) as a polished studio
interpretation, or recorded, on the scene, a fiesta such as the Process/on of Triumphal
Cars (not illus.), he retained the spirit and quality of contemporary 1 8th century
Venice*
574 575
576 577
Fifteenth century French drawings are rare and in most cases stem directly from
late Gothic illuminations. An isolated example is the Lady with Her Suitors (578),
which from the style and the sturdy figure types may be of Burgundian origin. With
its verse of chivalric poetry it is obviously an illustration to a moralistic story.
Fifteenth century German drawing, also rare, was influenced to a great extent by
the Netherlands. It flourished principally in the engraving centers of the Rhine Valley,
and is related to the engraver’s art which emphasizes sharpness in design and
execution. Losing all trace of Flemish influence in the 1 6th century, German drawing
developed an independent style under the leadership of Duerer, Gruenewald, and
Holbein. The Dead Christ (579), by Duerer, a signed crayon drawing, dated 1505,
represents a prone figure in perspective, reminiscent of Mantegna’s Bewailing of
Christ in Milan, which Duerer may have seen during his first sojourn in Venice. The
Ascension (580), in pen and ink, Duerer made after returning from his second trip to
Italy. Between 1510 and 1512 he completed his Great Passion woodcut series which
the nature of this drawing suggests.
Duerer’s contemporary in neighboring Regensberg, Altdorfer, a painter-engraver,
invented a very free landscape style, especially in etching (649). He also made
preliminary studies on tinted papers; his Salome (581), apparently a fragment, was
intended as a trial for a picture. Altdorfer inspired a number of versatile landscape
followers such as Wolf Huber, whose View of a Castle (582) of 1513 shows a fortress
high above the Danube.
Seventeenth century German artists studied in Italy. The only drawing by Johann
Liss which is signed and dated, Allegory of Christian Belief (583), reflects this contact
as it is based on the sleeping figure in Veronese’s Vision of St. Helena.
578 579 580
The greatest artist of 16th century Flanders was Pieter Brueghel the Elder. He
initiated true landscape painting in which the many figures included were subordi¬
nated to the whole. After 1559 he did a series of pen and pencil studies, one of
which is Two Peasants in Half Figure (585). These studies describe man as a product
of nature and were principally concerned with the structure of the figures around
him, and details of costume and posture. Later in 17th century Flanders came Rubens
whose command of drawing techniques, added to his inventiveness and versatility,
places him as one of the greatest draftsmen of all time. Of the two Rubens drawings
owned by the Museum, the earlier, Faun Grasping a Bunch of Grapes (584), in black
crayon with ink washes, is typical of his figure studies which were used by followers
and pupils in his studio. The second, the Feast of Herod (588), much later end freer,
done in pen and ink with color notations, was the initial composition for his painting
of the subject in the Lady Lever collection in England. Though the painting is elabor¬
ated, this sketch contains the essence of his idea. On the reverse (587), is another
drawing which preserves a design for a painting of Tomyris with the Head of Cyrus
which Rubens never executed. Here the strong ink strokes showing through the paper
may have formed the basis for the drawing.
Rubens’ contemporary, Jordaens, was likewise a Flemish artist of importance, who
in 1 645 received a commission to paint an altarpiece of the Conversion of St. Paul
(586). The drawing shown here is one of two preliminary compositions in the Museum
collection suggesting different treatments of the theme. Both are drawn in black
and red crayon with color suggestions in water-color washes.
In the 17th century in France, Poussin and Claude Lorrain were the outstanding
draftsmen. Claude observed landscape and caught the essence of nature through
584
585
586
587
588
his sensitive use of the medium of washes. He made two types of drawings: countless
sketches direct from nature in the Roman campagna, and finished compositions like
the large landscape w/fh Caff/e (589) which was a preliminary study for an oil
The 1 8th century produced brilliant draftsmen in France, the greatest and earliest
of them being Watteau, by birth a Fleming from Valenciennes, Greatly influenced
by his countryman Rubens, he drew many sheets of sketches in red and black chalk,
often heightened with Chinese white, for his fetes galanies, a world of theatrical
people dramatizing the current taste. These studies of heads, hands, arms, drapery,
and various details, he used in his paintings; yet only rarely did he do sketches for
full compositions such as The Romancer (591), a study for the picture in the Rothschild
collection later engraved by Cochin. His contemporary, Boucher, was the fashionable
royal decorator, the pure exponent of the French Rococo whose typical pastorals
are synonymous with the time. His drawings of diminutive, elegant nudes are well
known. In contrast were his serious religious pictures of which the Presenfaf/on in the
Temple (593) is a bister sketch for the Rennes altarpiece, He also made series of
drawings in red chalk like the Fountain Design (594), to be engraved by Huquier
and others, for reference books. Boucher’s brilliant pupil, Fragonard, studying the
baroque wash drawings of Pietro da Cortona and Tiepolo in Italy, imitated them in
water color in such squared preparatory drawings as L'invocafiort a TAmour (590),
At the same time, Hubert Robert worked in Italy producing bister drawings like
the imaginary Roman Building (592), inspired by the grandiose creations of the
Roman etcher, Piranesi (634),
The neo-classical revival, resulting around 1800 from the French Revolution and
the advent of Napoleon, produced artists like David. His pupil, Ingres, more con-
589 590
594
593
592
591
cerned with the exactnesses of renaissance classicism, took for his model, Raphael.
For the better part of the 19th century, Ingres dominated the academic viewpoint
which stressed line rather than color. He developed precociously at the French
Academy in Rome, where he began drawing portraits in a fine pencil line, like the
Portrait of a Man (597), which incorporated features of the Roman skyline as back¬
ground. An astonishing portraitist throughout his lifetime, the portrait of the daughter
of the sculptor Houdon, Mme. Raoul Rochette (595), is in his most accomplished
manner. Ingres achieved the dextrous modeling of face and hands with remarkable
subtlety, treating the rest of the drawing more broadly. Less common are his usually
small Landscape (596) drawings, equally precise yet conveying a sense of distance.
The antithesis of the classical came early in the 1 800’s with the romantic move¬
ment. Chief among the initiators were Delacroix and Gericault. The latter, living but
a brief time, was the vehement precursor of Romanticism. His love of horses and
interest in English sporting life inspired his spirited subjects such as the water color
drawing of the Fighting Horses (598). Dramatic action and color instead of line were
the criteria of the Romantics. Delacroix’s life span paralleled Ingres's with whom he
was in constant conflict. Delacroix painted vast ceiling decorations in Paris, in
glowing rich colors, dynamic renderings of classical mythology. Literature and history
inspired his battlepieces at Nantes for which the Armored Figure on Horseback (599)
is a typical preparatory sketch with figures in pencil as well as wash. Among the
Romantics to follow was Daumier, whose searching social and political comment in
his thousands of lithographs and drawings revealed his unquestioned genius as a
satirist. The Connoisseurs (600), done in pencil and water color, is one of his satirical
drawings.
595 596 597
60
598
599
Degas, one of the leading 19th century artists, was a versatile artist whose work
was inspired by the classicism of Ingres. A drawing made as a young man in Florence
dated 1857, the Sheet of Sketches (601), shows his preoccupation with renaissance
drawing. Later, though he never became one of them entirely, Degas was engrossed
in the new color science of the Impressionists, with whom he worked and exhibited.
The portrait drawing in charcoal and white chalk of his Neapolitan friend the printer
D/ego Martelli (602), is the First of a series of drawings which led to two oils of the
subject* Pissarro, a leading Impressionist, was influenced by Corot* Primarify a
colorist, Pissarro's drawings nevertheless suggest form as in the Shepherdess (603)*
Renoir like Degas, though associated with the Impressionists, followed an independent
course* Partially a classicist in his preoccupation with form, he observed the sensuous
use of paint by Rubens and Watteau, and red chalk drawings like the Siesta (607),
with all its freshness, tend to suggest color rather than form*
Of the later generation of post-impressionists, Gauguin reduced fine and color to
a decorative formula peculiarly his own* He achieved a simplified order of primitive
structure evident in such drawings os the Head of a Tahitian (606), derived largely
from his sojourn in the South Seas. Toulouse-Lautrec, coming later, absorbed the
classic strength of Degas 1 line, yet adapted it to express the rapid mind’s-eye
view of his surroundings in Montmartre* His iaundress (60S), done In washes with
a brush on a prepared plaster ground, is a poignant social comment. The large
drawing of Yvette G uilbert (604) in black crayon on brown paper, is a character
sketch of his friend the d/seuse, perhaps a first sketch for his famous poster of her*
After the great portrait tradition, drawing in Britain in the 1 8th century provided
the start of the modern landscape style* The English landscape sprang out of native
604 605 606 607
observation, but with a direction from the Dutch tradition which was popular in
England. Constable and Turner were the protagonists, but Gainsborough invented
a discursive style adding shading and washes which reveal his preoccupation with
color. Driven to Drink (609) richly illustrates these characteristics. An isolated figure
of great individuality in English art was Slake. A poet and visionary, steeped in
the knowledge of the Bible, Blake illustrated his imaginary world peopled by a
hierarchy of personified virtues and vices. His unique style of drawing derived from
Michelangelo, but the ever curving sinuous line which prevails throughout his work
is his own. The water-color drawing Christ in the tap of Truth (608) is a typical
example*
In the 20th century, sculpture has been the British contribution, with Henry Moore
as the spearhead of the movement. Masses, structural form, and linear plasticity
are his concern as can be seen in his pen and ink sketch, Madonna and Child (610).
On the North American continent, following the I 8th century portrait tradition and
the landscape tradition of the early 1 9th century, various types of realism were in
the ascendant from the mid-century on. The scientific observance of nature is well
exemplified in the mathematically correct pencil drawing for the Biglen Brothers
Turning the Stake Boat (612) by Eakins, which is one of a number of preparatory
drawings made for the Museum's oil. The 20th century brought forth a wealth of
individual expressions in American art as diversified as the fresh simplicity of
Bellow’s Portrait of Anne (611) and the nostalgic romanticism of Burchfields Church
Bells Ringing (613),
m
613
612
PRINTS
The three major classifications of fine prints are: relief, printing from raised lines;
intaglio, printing from sunken lines; and lithography, printing from a flat surface*
The relief and intaglio processes developed almost simultaneously in north and south
Europe before the middle of the 15th century, while lithography, last to evolve, was
invented in 1798 by Aloys Senefelder*
Though 15th century Italian engraving did not reach the technical proficiency of
that of Germany and the Netherlands, it attained higher artistic excellence and
independence of style from immediate contact with the stimulating intellectual
currents of the Renaissance* The earliest center of Italian engraving is Florence where
it divided into two principal groups. Fine and Broad Manners. Fine Manner is
distinguished by finely engraved lines laid closely together with liberal crosshatching*
The more draftsmanlike Broad Manner, with simple broad parallel lines of shading,
imitates a pen drawing. Two anonymous Florentine engravings illustrate these con¬
trasting methods: Fine Manner, St. Jerome in Pen/fence (615), a unique print in which
the figure suggests Leonardo da Vinci's style; and Broad Manner, The Agony in the
Garden [614)* Another anonymous Broad Manner engraving, Assumption of the
Virgin (616), is adapted from a lost design by Botticelli* This largest engraving of
the Quattrocento, consisting of two equal parts joined together at the horizontal
center, was engraved on two plates. It is the most important print ever acquired by
the Museum, as remarkable in quality as it is monumental in size. A slightly later
Florentine engraving is The Lost Supper (617) by Lucantonio degli Uberti, adapted
from a fresco by Perugino and engraved on two plates. The Museum's print is the
only impression known of the entire composition*
614 615 616
_*nrviijawx\\w!
Emanating from North Italy is a celebrated set of 50 instructive prints, erroneously
called tarocchi cards, which for variety of presentation and comprehensiveness of
subject are unsurpassed in Quattrocento engraving. Of two sets of these prints, the
Museum owns a complete set of the earlier, known as the E Series (Astrology, 618).
To Andrea Mantegna, one of Italy’s greatest painters, are ascribed seven engravings
all owned by the Museum. Mantegna’s technical style, close to that of his drawings,
is characterized by strong outlines relieved by open parallel lines of shading
between which are lighter oblique strokes (The Entombment, 623). Virgin in the Grotto
(620), an anonymous engraving, is related to the central panel of Mantegna’s
Uffizi triptych. An anonymous print sometimes associated with the Mantegna School
is Mother and Child with Two Dogs (619), a most unusual subject of which the Museum
owns the most brilliant of three known impressions and the only one with a full plate-
mark. The reputation of Giulio Campagnola who worked in Padua and Venice rests
on a small group of 22 engravings. Giulio worked in three distinct technical manners:
first, in pure line; second, in line with a combination of dots as in St. John the Baptist
owned by the Museum; and last, in dots alone by which he produced the subtlest
gradations of values, for example, Venus Reclining in a Landscape (622), gift of The
Print Club of Cleveland, which reflects the romantic quality of Giorgione’s style. This
print in the rare first state with signature added in ink is from the Hermitage collec¬
tion. Domenico Campagnola, adopted son of Giulio, known through his paintings,
drawings, engravings, and woodcuts, was an artist of considerable versatility. Of
the Museum’s six engravings by Domenico, The Assumption of the Virgin (625) is his
most ambitious. It has features in common with two of Titian’s altarpieces.
The first prominent Venetian printmaker was Jacopo de’ Barbari trained in the
style of the Muranese School. After 1 500 he went to Germany as court painter to
618
619
620
621
617
622 623
Emperor Maximilian I, Of his 30 engravings the Museum owns four. Bust of a Woman
(627) from his early period is the largest and rarest and comes from the Hermitage
collection* The idealized head, inspired by classical tradition, is sculpturesque and
treated in a bold free manner. The Museum's woodcut. Bird's Eye View of Venice
(628, 629 details) dated 1 500 is a first state from the Liechtenstein collection* This
monumental panorama cut upon six separate blocks of wood, in minutest detail, is
a marvel of execution on a vast scale. An Italian engraver of originality was
Nicoletto Rosex of Modena who has left 1 2? engravings. Fate of Evil Tongue (626),
an abstract idea In concrete form, is an example of his mature manner* The early
work of Benedetto Montagna is based on that of his father, the Vicenzan painter
Bartolommeo Montagna* He produced 50 engravings all signed with either his full
name or initials* His later plates, chiefly of classical subjects, of which the Museum
owns four, reveal him as a spirited and graceful illustrator and accomplished
engraver. Rape of furopa (621) for Ovid's Metamorphoses is an original and distinctly
Italian composition, Morcantomo Raimondi was born in Bologna where he was a
pupil of Francesco Francia. Following a period of activity in Venice he moved to
Rome* With Duerer and Lucas van Leyden, Marcantonio formed the great triumvirate
of early 16th century engravers* Though of far less creative power than Duerer or
van Leyden, he developed technical perfection which is unsurpassed* His work,
limited to engraving, is primarily interpretative of designs of others, first of Duerer
and later of Raphael and Michelangelo* Orpheus Seated (624), a delightful early
work, is one of his rare inventions*
Mocetto’s engraving Ca/umny of Apelles (631), based on a drawing by Mantegna,
has its setting in the piazza in Venice with the statue of Colleoni by Verrocchio* The
624 625 626 627
628 629
engraver known as Master of the Year 1515 was an artist of northern Europe who
worked in Italy. Most of his 44 engravings are executed in drypoint, a process rare
in this early period. Typical of his drypoint work and original treatment of classical
themes is Battle in a Wood (630).
In the 1 8th century, etching reached its highest development in Italy and three
Venetian artists of great individuality, Tiepolo the Elder, Canaletto, and Piranesi,
were its greatest exponents. Tiepolo was celebrated for monumental altarpieces
and frescoes. His 38 etchings show, with their sure simple lines and parallel shading,
the same feeling for motion and masterly handling of white light characteristic of his
paintings and typical of the rococo spirit. Satyr Family (632) from the set, "Scherzi
di Fantasia,” reveals Tiepolo’s mature powers of invention and composition. Cana¬
letto, best known for his paintings of Venetian views, also produced a remarkable
etched series of 31 views of Venice and environs. This set, his complete etched work,
is owned by the Museum. His etchings are characterized by a unique treatment of
skies, achieved by simple tremulous horizontal lines, which give a luminous atmospheric
effect. Canal Lock at Dolo (633) shows Canaletto’s skill in rendering architecture, and
the effect of direct and reflected light on stone surfaces. Piranesi left his native
Venice for Rome. Trained as an architect, he engraved over a thousand colossal
plates of monuments of antiquity and the Renaissance. His genius is seen in an in¬
ventive and powerful series owned by the Museum of 16 plates of prisons (Vaulted
Building, 634). This highly imaginative series is more forceful because of the skillful
handling of masses of light and shade and brilliant contrasts of tone achieved by a
vigorous style of etching.
630 631
632
633
634
In Germany and the Lowlands fn the 1 5fh century, printmaking was the concern of
artisans skilled in metal and woodcraft, still working in the late gothic style, many of
whom signed their work with identifying initials. Gothic Table fountain (638 Nether¬
lands), one of the Museum's two engravings by Master W with the Key, is an artisan's
design as descriptive as a blueprint* The first outstanding German artist in the 1 5th
century was the Master E$. Two of his eight engravings in the collection are Playing
Card (636), a king of the suit of helmets, and St. John the Bapt/sf (637)* Though the
latter is still a design in the goldsmith tradition, probably for a communion paten,
it is highly developed in the use of engraving, and characterized by competence
of drawing and graceful ornament. Prints by ES are now rare but many lost subjects
are known at second hand through copies* Just as the border medallions of St*
Jerome (635) were copied from 637, an ES engraving probably inspired the central
panel of this German dotted print. In this curious, short-lived process, the unprinted
areas were cut and punched into a metal plate and the plate printed in relief like
a woodcut, A direct artistic descendant of ES in the following generation was the
great painter-engraver Schongauer, Outstanding in the Museum's group of 40
Schongauer engravings is his large masterwork Christ Carrying His Cross (639)* It
remains a marvel of composition in its detailed description of the crowd from which
the face of Christ emerges with quiet pathos* Israhel van Meckenem, Schongauer’s
lesser contemporary, gives us a fascinating glimpse of court life at the end of the
Middle Ages in the engraving Dance at Herod's Court (640)* Flight Into Egypt (641)
is marked by Schongauer's balance of detail within a tightly designed composition.
Temptation of Christ (643) by Master LCZ was probably engraved during the decade
after Schongauer’s death in 149? and obviously reflects the later artist’s admiration
of Schongauer’s style. The King’s Sons (642) by Mair von Landshut is printed like
635
636
637
638
most engravings by this provincial artist on hand-tinted paper, a practice common
in German drawings of the early 1 6th century but an innovation in prints.
By the beginning of the 16th century Albrecht Duerer had firmly established him¬
self as one of the great printmakers of all time. He had developed engraving and
woodcut to its highest technical potential but, more important, was also an artist of
surpassing genius. The Museum collection of Duerer’s prints is comprehensive and of
extremely high quality of impression, which can be illustrated here in four typical
examples. Bold contrasts of black and white in Duerer’s woodcut style before 1500
dramatize the awesome vision of The Riders (646) from the Apocalypse series. A
dozen years later he refined his woodcut style to modeling in silvery grays as in
Trinity (647). In style this woodcut has close affinity to Duerer’s drawing (580). The
affinity between print and pen drawing is even closer in Christ on the Mount of
Olives (645) of 1515, one of Duerer’s few experiments in etching, the new intaglio
process which offered far greater freedom to the printmaker’s tool than did en¬
graving. Melancholia (644), a miraculous achievement in light, volume, texture, and
atmosphere, all created with engraved line, shows also Duerer, the symbolist, the
philosopher, the intellectual bridge between gothic Germany and renaissance Italy.
German artists of the Danube region added landscape as a subject in itself to
the growing repertory of secular art early in the 16th century, here exemplified in
Altdorfer’s picturesque etched Landscape (649). Where prints were considered as
multiple drawings, a need was felt for the further attraction of color. In this respect
Burgkmair followed the course of Mair (642) in coloring the paper blue for Emperor
Maximilian (650), then he printed on it two woodblocks, one with white ink for the
641
642
643
639
644
645
646
647
highlights, one with block ink for the outlines and shadows. This is one of three existing
special printings for the emperor. For a later edition the “chiaroscuro method” was
used in which the same black furnished outlines and shadows, but a color tone block
took the place of tinted paper, and whites were supplied by the paper itself where
not covered by the tone block* Chiaroscuro woodcuts then successfully imitated the
effect of drawings in pen and ink on tinted paper heightened with white (see 581),
Wechtlin's Pyramus and Thisbe (648) is a splendid example of chiaroscuro printed
in black with a blue-green tone block setting off the highlights.
In the 16th century two talented printmakers appeared outside Germany, con¬
temporary with Duerer, Altdorfer, and Burgkmair, They were Lucas van Leyden of
Holland and Duvet of France, Both were influenced by Duerer and Marcantonio, yet
both remained individual. One of the rare woodcuts by Lucas, of which the Museum
owns six, is Samson and DeWah (651). The large engraving, Return of the Prodigal Son
(652), is representative of his 49 engravings in the Museum, of which an important
group is the Round Passion set* Christ on the Crass (653), one of the Museum's 37
Duvet engravings, is bound with the Apocalypse series in a 17th century Dutch
binding.
The 17th century found the Lowlands at their greatest period of artistic develop¬
ment. Landscape, still life, genre subjects, delighted new patrons in the wealthy
merchant class. It was also the golden age of portraiture in which van Dyck especially
excelled. The etched portraits by van Dyck show his own work in pure etching
only in the early states [Philippe le Roy, 656), They lose a great deal of vigor in
the completed plates which were finished in engraving by assistants. But the com¬
manding position in the century is held by the great Dutch artist, Rembrandt, in
650
648
^ rr ■ r ^
649
651
652
653
whose hands the etching needle was as expressive as his paint brush. His Three
Trees (655) of 1643 is a marvel of dramatic lights, shadows, and half-lights. The
more broadly etched Supper at Emmaus (654) of 1654 reveals the spiritual insight
and universal humanity of the artist.
Since the purely linear character of traditional print processes was too restrictive
for the aims of baroque art, the tonal processes of mezzotint and aquatint were
a logical development of the 17th and 18th centuries. But the most revolutionary
event was the invention of lithography which gave 19th century artists a print
medium of unprecedented freedom. The drawing in greasy pencil on stone could be
made as quickly as a charcoal sketch and exploit a whole range of tones between
white and unrelieved black. Goya, the powerful Spanish painter whose brilliant use
of aquatint gives him a place of first rank in the print field, turned to the new litho¬
graph process in his seventies and made it his own also, as shown by Division of the
Ring (658) of 1825. Delacroix’s Wild Horse (657), like 658, part of the repre¬
sentative collection of lithographs given by Mr. and Mrs. Williams, marks the growth
of the increasingly important French school which proved to have a particular
affinity for lithography. The Rose collection of Meryon’s etchings is represented with
the first state of St. Etienne du Mont (659) by this 19th century French eccentric
whose special genius for architectural portraiture described the appearance of
old Paris.
Revived interest in lithography among the Impressionists resulted in its second
flowering in France at the end of the 19th century. Closed Eyes (660), 1 890, perfectly
expresses Redon’s romantic mysticism. The Museum’s large collection of Toulouse-
Lautrec prints shows this artist’s fine use of color lithography (661, Jockey). In England
654
655
656
657 658 659
John Copley (663, Starry Night) and his wife, Ethel Gabain, became outstanding
British lithographers of this century*
Gifts from The Print Club of Cleveland of material (drawings, prints, blocks,
plates, etc.) relating to its presentation prints, given annually to its members since
1924, form a large and significant part of the print collection. Odalisque (662], the
etching commissioned by the dub from Matisse for 1 934 illustrates this aspect of
the contemporary collection. Significant too is a growing collection of chiaroscuros
by Lepere and prints by Muirhead Bone* Notable in the collection of American
prints are Pennell lithographs, wood engravings by Homer, drypoints and aquatints
by Mary Cassatt, wood engravings and lithographs by Rockwell Kent, and a repre¬
sentative group of prints by Cleveland artists including all the published etchings
and lithographs by Henry G. Keller. Two outstanding collections are those of etchings
and lithographs by Whistler and of lithographs by Bellows. Whistler's etching,
Balcony (664), in the first of 1 1 states, indicates the artist’s admiration for both
Japanese art and French Impressionism. The Bellows collection includes all but three
of the artist’s 1 96 lithographs* Allan Donn (665), one of a group of illustrations made
in 1923, shows his dramatic use of the process* Ge/meroda (666), a crystalline
abstraction in woodcut of a village church in east Germany, represents the Museum's
select group of prints by FeinEnger, the American who was a key figure m the German
Bauhaus group in the 1920’s*
660 661 662 663
664 665 666
NEAR EASTERN ART
The Sumerians and the Babylonians founded the first great civilizations of the
Near East in the lower valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They were followed
by the Assyrians who settled in the region today known as Syria where they built
great cities, palaces, and temples. It is from the ruins of the palace of Ashurnazirpal
II (885-860 B.C.) at Calah that the Alabaster Relief (667) comes. The Phoenicians
living on the Syrian coast were in close contact with the Assyrians and were greatly
influenced by them. The 8th century gold-plated Silver Plate (668) is an example
of the eclecticism of Phoenician art, showing both Assyrian influence and Egyptian.
To the north, in modern Armenia, were a people whom the Assyrians called Urarteans.
Excavations have yielded bronze objects which illustrate how these people too
were dominated by the force of Assyrian art. The Bronze Bull's Head (669) is one
of these rare Urartean bronzes of the 8th century B.C. The Assyrians were finally
conquered by the Persians in 606 B.C. and it was the Medes, followed by the
Achaemenids and, after a period of Greek influence, the Sassanids, whose art and
culture dominated the Near East. The Relief of a Guardsman (670) from the palace
of Persepolis is an excellent example of Achaemenid sculpture. During the Sassanian
period (226-641 A.D.) the minor arts were especially developed and none perhaps
was more important than the art of the silversmith of which the Plate with Repousse
Bull (671) is only a modest example. The Stucco Ibex (672) is a fragment of a wall
decoration from near Suza. The art of weaving was also very highly developed in
this period and the little Silk (673) and the Woolen Tapestry (674) are ornamented
with typically Sassanian motifs.
667
668
669
670
671 672 673 674
The rise of the religion of Islam at the end of the 6th century and its rapid dis¬
semination, beyond the borders of Persia in the east and to Spain in the west, mark
a whole new era in the history and cultural development of the Near East. Muhammad
and his followers brought no artistic heritage with them from the desert, but the
Arab language and literature and, above all, the Koran provided factors which
helped to unify the vast Muhammadan domain from one end to the other.
In Persia the artistic traditions of the Achaemenids and Sassanids persisted for
several centuries after the Arab conquest. The few precious objects which have
survived from the early Islamic centuries reveal with what skill the artists modified
the ancient motifs to meet the needs and tastes of their time. The large Silk with
Ibexes (675) is a perfect illustration of this blending of ancient Persian and Islamic
traditions; an inscription on the reverse gives the date 998 A.D., corresponding to
the period of Buy id rule in Persia. That the Silk with Kufic Inscriptions (676) was
intended to serve as a tomb cover or shroud is indicated by the curious form in
which it is woven and by the verses which have reference to the corresponding
parts of the body which they covered: head, heart, hands, and feet. Its late 10th
century date is assured by the style of the inscription which is very close to that of
the ibex silk. The Silk with Animal Combat Motif (677) is one of the most delicate and
elegant of all the Buyid textiles; its design, white on white, is formed by a contrast
in texture only. Also Buyid is the Blue and White Silk (678), and somewhat later in
style, from the end of the Buyid period, or the beginning of the Seljuk period, are
the Three Silks (679, 680, 681). The Tombstone (682) dated 1110 is ornamented
with Kufic inscriptions similar in style to those of the silks.
The Arabs before Muhammad had been worshippers of idols and in founding his
675 676 677 678
679 680 681 682
new religion Muhammad inveighed particularly against the representation of living
forms. Sculpture, which had been an extremely important means of artistic expression
in pre-lslamic Persia, almost completely disappeared in Islamic times. Two rare
exceptions to the rule, both reportedly from Ha mad an, are the 13th century
Hitching-post (683} and the Balustrade (685); a similar balustrade in the Metro¬
politan Museum bears the date 1 304. These sculptures must be regarded as provin¬
cial work and not representative of the fully developed Persian-lslamic style of
the period, The same is true of the little blue and white Silk Fragment with Winged
"lion* (684). It ts woven in soumac technique like the later rugs of northwest Persia
and may perhaps also be from that region, A comparison of the style of drawing
of the animal with that of the jug (700) suggests a 1 2th century date for the silk.
Another winged beast, this time perhaps derived from the Byzantine griffon, is
to be seen in the S//k Fragment (686) from an Egyptian grave. It is one of a series
of similar silks, evidently from the same find. Arabic inscriptions on some of them and
a certain affinity with Buyid designs suggest a 10th or early 11th century date
but whether woven in Egypt or elsewhere in the Islamic world is more difficult to
determine. The S/Mc with Winged Horses, Trees and Birds (688), also found in Egypt,
is probably 12th century in date, but its place of manufacture is equally difficult
to determine, A complete enigma is the beautiful Go/d and Pink Silk (687) from the
treasure of St, Peter's Church, Salzburg, It definitely shows characteristics of Islamic
art but, lacking material for comparison with it, its actual identity remains a mystery.
The manufacture of textiles had always been among the most important of the
industrial arts practiced in the Near East; it continued to be especially important in
the Islamic period and was carried by the Muhammadan craftsmen wherever their
683 684 685
6S6
687
688
armies extended their conquest. With the workshops of Persia, those of Mesopotamia,
Egypt, Sicily, and Spain shared in the production of the sumptuous textiles which
were so important to the commerce of the Middle Ages. A small but precious frag¬
ment, very likely from a Sicilian atelier of the 1 2th century, is the Embroidery ( 689 );
it is gold on a fabric of silk and cotton called tmtlham. Found in Egypt, and undoubted¬
ly Egyptian in origin and belonging to the Fatimid period, is the Roundel with
crowned seated figure ( 690 ) tapestry woven in polychrome silks and gold.
The establishment of royal manufactories, known as tiroz, was at first limited to
the Caliphs at Baghdad but gradually the prerogative was usurped by lesser
Muhammadan rulers. Many of the textiles, called tiroz after the factories which
produced them, contained inscriptions with the names of the ruler, his vizier, the
name of the town where the tiroz was located, and prayers for well-being, etc. The
beautiful Tiraz ( 691 ) tapestry woven in silk and linen, probably the end of a turban
band, contains in the Kufic inscription the name of Aziz Abu-Mansur Nazar, Fatimid
Caliph of Egypt (975-96); it was probably woven in the tiraz at Tinnis like a similar
one in a private collection in New York* The Tiraz ( 694 ) tapestry, woven in poly¬
chrome silks and gold on linen, was almost certainly also woven in Egypt during
the Fatimid period (909-1 171)* Also Fatimid but reflecting the survival of strong
Coptic influence is the Tapestry Roundel ( 692 } with a figure holding a fafcon by a
strap, Egyptian or Mesopotamian is the rare Printed Fabric ( 693 ) in which the
design is stamped In brown and gold on mu/bam*
Richly colored ceramic Hies were used in the Near East for architectural decora¬
tion at least as early as the third milJenium B.C But glazing did not come Into general
use for vessels and other objects until the Parthian period and then only monochrome
689
690
691
692 5 693 r 694
lead glazes were used. The Museum possesses a representative collection of glazed
Parthian ware (not illusj which came from excavations at Dura Europus in which
the Museum participated with the University of Michigan. The Sassanians continued
to use the same type of monochrome lead glaze. A large vase (not illus.) in the
Museum’s collection is a rare example of this type of Sassanian pottery.
It was only in the Muhammadan period that the potters developed their craft to
take its place as one of the great industrial arts. Many new techniques were de¬
veloped and an endless variety of new types were produced in the workshops from
Samarkand to Spain.
Almost nothing has been preserved which can be identified with the earliest
Islamic centuries, but by the 9th and 1 Oth centuries various regional styles had
evolved. Nishapur, in eastern Persia, had an important early ceramic industry
which, fortunately, is well documented by a series of excavations made by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Baw/ with the Elegant Bird (696), painted in poly¬
chrome (black, red, green, and yellow) over a clear glaze, is one of the characteristic
9th century Nishapur types. The Two Bowls in Chompleve Technique (695, 697) ore
typical of 11th century wares which have been found in the Garrus region in
northern Persia, especially at Yasukand. The Plate with Falcon Attacking a Duck
(698) represents another technique in which a thick creamy-white slip is modeled to
give relief and then incised and painted in deep blue, turquoise, yellow, and purple
manganese and covered with a clear siliceous glaze. Wares of this type, called
lakabi ware, have been found mostly at Paiy and are generally believed to have
been made there during the Sel[uk period. The Jug (700), a 1 2th century type
found at Raiy, has the design modeled in black slip covered with turquoise glaze.
695
696
697
698
699
700
Und erg laze painting is the technique used for the B/ack and Turquoise Bowl (699)
which can be attributed to the early 13th century by comparison with several
dated bowls.
The discovery of the method of producing luster decoration with pigments of
metalic oxide was one of the great contributions to the craft which the Islamic potters
made. When and where this technique was first evolved is uncertain but the weight
of evidence points toward Mesopotamia, at Baghdad or Samarra. The earliest
example of luster ware in the Museum's collection is the 11th century Bowl (701)
from Fustat, Egypt. Typical of the 12th century luster wares found at Raiy is the
Bottle (702) with golden colored luster on an opaque white ground. The Bowl (703)
is similar in style but with a darker luster on a cobalt blue glaze. It is from a group
of ceramics recently discovered at Gurgan which was an important ceramic center
and it is believed these wares were actually manufactured there.
After the destruction of Raiy by the Mongols in 1220, Kashan became the principal
ceramic center. The Star-shaped Ti/e (704) which is dated 1 266 is characteristic of
the Kashan luster style. The Beaker (705) and Bowl (706) are a type of ware called
minai, or many-colored. This ware was probably also made at Kashan during the
13th century. It is overglaze painted in rich polychrome and gold and the designs
are characterized by delicately drawn figures in the style of miniature paintings.
The metal workers of Persia had always been among the most important in the
Near East and it seems to have been in Persia that the ancient traditions survived
and were taken over by the Muhammadan artisans, who there evolved a truly
Islamic style of metalwork and passed it on to the other Muhammadan countries.
It is only after the rise of the Seljuks in the 11th century that there begins to be a
701
703
702
704
705
706
sufficient number of doted objects to permit the establishment of style criteria and
to provide a basis for dating.
Among the metal objects of the Seljuk period is a large group of cast and en¬
graved bronzes believed to be the products of a school of metalworkers in north¬
eastern Iran, Among these vessels are a number of incense burners of zoomorphic
form. The t/on-s/iaped incense Burner (707) can be assigned, for stylistic reasons,
to the 1 2th century. The Bronze Partridge (709) is similar in date and from the same
region.
The earliest dated example of inlaid bronze is the famous Bobrinski kettle in the
Hermitage, made at Herat in 1163, The Museum possesses several silver inlaid
Persian bronzes of which the finest is the famous Wade Cup (708) which was probably
made in northwest Persia in the early 1 3th century.
With the conquest of Persia by the Mongols in the early 1 3th century many of
the craftsmen fled westward, and it is generally believed the school of metal¬
workers at Mosul, Mesopotamia, was established by refugee craftsmen from Persia.
The Silver inlaid Brass Ewer (710) inscribed with the name 5 Ahmad ad-Dhaki, "the
engraver of Mosul/ 1 is dated 1 223. Also from Mosul is the beautiful 1 3th century
tnhid Brass Candtestick (713)* From a 13th century Syrian workshop comes the
Inlaid Tray of which only a detail is illustrated (711); the Cylindrical Box (712) is
1 4th century Syrian work.
The year 1258 marked a turning point in the cultural development and history
of the Near East, It was in that year that the Mongols, under Ghengis Khan, who
had overriden Persia nearly 40 years before, sacked Baghdad, The Mongols now
708
709
707
710 711 712 713
ruled Asia from China in the east to Syria in the west. About the same time the
Mamluks, former Turkish slaves, took over control in Egypt and soon extended their
conquest to Syria, The close association which now existed between the Near and
Far East resulted in strong Chinese influence on Islamic art.
Syria had always been famous as a glass making country but it was not until the
period of Mamluk rule in the 1 3th and 14th centuries that the art reached its greatest
florescence. It was in Syria at this time that the art of enameling on glass was first
developed. Two fine examples of Mamluk enameled gloss from Syria are the Basin
(716} and the Baffle (714). The latter decorated with a Chinese phoenix around
the neck, bears an inscription with the name of Sultan Malik an-Nazir Muhammad,
Mamluk ruler of Syria and Egypt between 1 293 and 1 340.
Egypt continued to be an important textile producing center in Mamluk times and
was particularly important for the link its textiles provided between those of the Far
East and Europe. The beautiful Silk (715) with design in gold and ivory on deep
blue combines both Near Eastern and Far Eastern motifs. It is one of the finest
examples of Mamluk silk which has come down to us.
Also belonging to the Egypto-Syrian school of the Mamluk period and probably
illustrated in Syria is the page. Peacock Device for Washing the Hands (717), from a
Treatise on Automata, or Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Devices, by Al-Jazari, The
Museum's page is one of several from a Manuscript dated 1315 which is the
earliest of the Automata manuscripts preserved.
Painting was evidently always practiced by Islamic artists but aside from a few
early examples of mural painting, or other architectural decoration, the art seems
714
715
716
717 718
never fo have been widely used in Islamic times except for book illustrations. With
the exception of one as yet unstudied example, the earliest miniature paintings are
from the end of the Abbasid period and were painted at Baghdad at the beginning
of the 1 3th century. The only clue to the miniature style in Persia before the Mongol
period is the painting on ceramics, especially the mlna/ ware (cf, 705, 706). The
Museum has several important Persian miniature paintings from the Mongol period.
The earliest is a page (719, The Enthronement of King Hoshang ), from a manuscript
of the Universal History by Rashid ad-Din, dated 1314. It was probably painted at
Tabriz. Also from the Tabriz school and dated about 1340 is a page (720, Bahram
Gor Shys a Dragon) from the famous Shahnamah manuscript, known as the Demotte
Shahnamah after its former owner. In both of these miniatures can be seen the strong
Chinese influence which characterizes the painting of the Mongol period and the
Timurid period which followed. The drawing, Dragon and Phoenix , (718), is one of a
group which in their lack of color closely follow Chinese painting and have been
attributed to Persia or to Turkey, in the 15th century. One of the finest examples
of Timurid Book Binding (721) is a carved, gilded, and painted example in the
Museum which dates from the 15th century. Also from the Timurid period and
probably painted about 1 440 at Shiraz is the Double-page Frontispiece (722) from
a Shahnamah manuscript. The scene may represent the marriage of the Mongol ruler
Ghazan Khan. The most famous painter of the Timurid period was Bihzad, who was
court painter in Herat and later in Tabriz, The Unfinished Garden Scene (723) is
identical to a frontispiece in the Gulistan Museum signed by Bihzad and dated 1 485.
In 1502 the Safavids gained control of Persia from the Timurids, Under them
Shiraz and Herat continued to be important centers of painting but it was at Tabriz,
719 720
72 T 722 723
the new capital, that the classic style of Safavid painting developed. Bihzad, court
painter to the Timurlds at Herat, was taken to Tabriz and continued to work as
court painter for the first Safavid rulers until at least 1 525, The early school of
painters which developed at Tabriz was greatly influenced by him and by Timurid
painting, but by the mid-16th century a truly Safavid style had evolved which
eventually dominated the style of the other schools. The painting 724, illustrating
an episode from the story of Khusrau and Shinn from a manuscript of the Kfoamsa
of Nizami, Is typical of 16th century Safavid style as is another page (725, iVush/ra-
wan and the Ow/s), also from a Khamsa manuscript. One of the greatest artists of
the Tabriz school was Sultan Muhammad and to his hand has generally been
attributed the famous drawing with wash, Camel and Attendant, (728), Another
drawing with wash (726, Picnic in the Mountains) is from the second half of the 1 6th
century and is In the style of Ustad Muhammadi, famous pupil, and probably son,
of Sultan Muhammad. The page. Ruler Seated in a Garden, (727), is another excellent
example of Persian drawing of the 16th century. The drawing, Sketch of a Young
Man, (729), reflects the later style begun by Aqa Riza and Riza-i-Abbasi who
worked at Ispahan, the new capital established in 1590 by Shah Abbas. Riza*i-
Abbasi and his school were particularly Interested in figural representation. The
paintings Youth Sleeping under a Willow Tree, (730), and Youth with a Toy , (731), are
late 1 6th century examples of this style. The historical and romantic episodes In
landscape and architectural settings, characteristic of Safavid painting, almost
completely disappeared.
In the Safavid period the great art was painting and in general the industrial
arts of the period suffer by comparison; only the art of the weaver maintained
724 725 726 727
728 729 730 731
the high artistic standards of earlier generations. The rich silks and velvets often
enhanced with gold and silver were ornamented with elaborate figural subjects
reflecting the style of the miniature paintings and like them often depicting episodes
from such works as the Sbahnamah and the Khamsa. The court painters are known
to have actually supplied designs for some of these magnificent textiles. The beautiful
Polychrome Velvet on Gold (732) belongs to the Shah Tahmasp period, 1524-76,
Somewhat later in style is the Figured Silk (733) with a man in a landscape setting
holding a long-necked bottle. Another Polychrome Velvet (734) depicts a scene
from the Shatmamah in which Iskander (Alexander) slays the dragon by dropping
a stone on his head. This velvet is one of a famous group which once ornamented the
war tent af the Turkish Sultan, Solyman I (1520-55), which he is said to have seized
during one of his invasions of Persia between 1534 and 1544. The lovely Velvet
(735) of which the Museum possesses two small fragments represents the famous
episode from the Khamsa when King Khusrau comes upon Shirin in her bath. The
Velvet with Large Scale Figures and Cypress Trees (736) reflects the style of Riza-i-
Abbasi and his school. The Silk (737) with a man in European dress has inscribed
on it the name ,f Abd Allah,"
Carpet weaving, which had evidently always been practiced in Persia, also be¬
came one of the great industrial arts in Safavid times. The Detail from an Animal
Carpet (738) illustrates one of the most beautiful types of early 1 6th century Persian
carpets. The So-called Polonaise Rug (739} is a later type which was popular in the
17th century*
736 737 5 ^ 738 739 2 .
INDIA
The earliest art of India, that of the Indus Valley culture dating from the third and
second millenniums B.C and related to the river cultures of Mesopotamia, is unrepre¬
sented as yet in the Museum. The considerable and important Indian collection starts
with the Roman influenced art of the northwest frontier, called Gandhara. Beginning
with the three schist reliefs with bacchanalian scenes of the late first or early second
centuries A,D. from a staircase at Buner (740), which display a style akin to that on
the Arch of Titus, one can trace the growing Indianlzation of the Gandhara style in
stone and stucco until the final flowering of a fluid and organic style in the remark¬
able stuccos of Hadda (741, Adon'ng Attendant) and Fondoukistan (loans by George
P. Bickford, not illus.K A well preserved gold and cornelian pendant from Sirkap
with a representation of Harlti (742) shows the style at its best in a miniature form
derived from late Hellenistic and Roman gold work* This style, of much importance
in the spread of Buddhist art to Central Asia and China, was still-born so far as
India proper was concerned. Several important Kashmiri sculptures of the 8th to
10th century in stone, metal and clay, lent from the Bickford collection (not illus*),
show how quickly the Roman style was abandoned in favor of the Gupta and
Medieval styles.
The development of early Indian sculpture is largely the story of Buddhist art and
of the Kushan Dynasty (c* 50-320 A.D.) in Northwest and North Central India* At
first the Buddha was represented only symbolically although there was a rich ftgural
art derived from local fertility concepts (744, Railing , red sandstone). Secondary
deities, especially the Bodhisattvas, Maitreya (748) and Padmapani, were repre-
«■Mi
sented in a virile and extroverted manner, stressing architectonic structure in the
usual red sandstone of the Fathepur Sikri district. The earliest representations of the
Buddha were in a similar vein (743) and established the seated “lotus” pose as the
norm. Lion thrones (745), for representations of royalty and of the Buddha, and
other motifs, allowed the Indian sculptor to explore the rendering of the animal
world in a particularly sympathetic way.
In the south, on the banks of the Krishna River, a comparable but more organic
style was developed at the great stupas (commemorative mounds for the “death” of
the Buddha) of Amaravati, Nagarjunikonda (746), and Jaggayapeta, built in the
green-white marble of the region. This Andhra style laid the foundations of the
great South Indian stone carvings of the Pallava Dynasty (c. 500-750).
The Gupta Dynasty (320-647) unified North and Central India, and the sculptural
style of this period established many norms which controlled medieval Indian art
and, by export, the early styles of Farther India and Indonesia (747, Buddha , cream
colored Chunar sandstone). Gupta sculpture avoids block-like and massive structure
and, probably under the influence of clay modeling, materializes Indian organic
tendencies in a classic expression (749, Head of a Bodhisattva , red sandstone). The
Gupta mode continued, especially in Northeast India where the fine grained black
stone allowed an almost metallic attention to detail as in the Chakrapurusa: The
Angel of the Discus , from Apshad, c. 670 (750). Purely decorative forms: lotus,
cushion, and jewel, were treated in lush profusion in Gupta and medieval archi¬
tectural sculpture (751).
The Pala Dynasty of Bengal (730-1 1 97) was the last repository of Gupta style in
747 748 749 750 751
752 753 754
India and the great black chlorite steles of this period (753, Buddha in the Earth
Touching Pose), beautiful in themselves, were of tremendous importance for outlying
areas since Bengal was a great university and pilgrimage center. Here too the
Gupta style of painting was maintained in rare palm-leaf manuscripts (752), a tradi¬
tion continued in Nepal until well after the Muhammadan invasions of the 1 3th
century (754, MS. Text of Astashosriko ProjnoparatnifQt Book of Transcendenfa
VVVsdom, dated 1111), The former manuscript is of particular interest because of its
various landscape settings, recalling those of the earlier famous cave paintings
of Ajanta.
Nepal, isolated and conservative, was a stronghold of esoteric Buddhist art and
continued the Pala style with some influences from Kashmir and Tibet, while much
later, in the 17th century, Chinese modes are found. The Museum has d good repre¬
sentation of Nepalese art from the 1 2th century on, in copper, wood, and painting.
The jewel-like gilt copper images are best known (755, Vasudhara^ 756, Lokeshvoro)
and maintain their quality into the 1 6th century (757, Manjvsri]*
Medieval Hindu stone sculpture, the culmination of Indian organic style, is not
fully represented here, but the styles of Rajputana (758, Agn/: God of Fire , cream
sandstone) and of the Gujarat (759, Female Figure , marble) are to be seen in
outstanding examples. The former is especially well preserved and while the main
figure of the Fire God shows an iconic rigidity, the subsidiary figures display that
curvilinear grace of pose and perfection of detail that mark the sculptures of the
Khajuraho region.
While work in stone becomes largely repetitive and mechanical after the 1 2th
755 756 757 758 759
763
760 761 762
century, flourishing schools of metal casting in South India produced fine images in
sizes ranging from miniature to almost life-size, usually by the lost wax process.
The Museum is especially rich in these copper images, ranging from the Chola
(c. 850-1310) to the Madura (1646-modern) periods. All but four major examples are
extended loans from the George P. Bickford collection. One of the greatest known
images of the Dancing Shiva (761), shows the Tanjore style of c. 1000 while a smaller
female figure of Parvati (760) is an example of slightly earlier date. Groups were
also made (762, Alingana-Chandrasekhara-Murti), and these display a typically
Indian understanding of male and female in well composed counterpoint. Copper
images from other areas are known and those of West India (763, Vishnu: The
Protector , brass) possess a charming naivete that is close to folk art.
The most rewarding medium of later Indian art is that of miniature painting, largely
made possible by the avid patronage of the various princely courts, both Muhamma¬
dan (Mughal) and Hindu (Rajput). The Rajput style, richly colored, lyrical, and very
decorative, though much influenced by the more realistic and rational Mughal
School, seems to stem from the highly abstract, almost shorthand representations
found in the Jain manuscripts from the Gujarat of the 14th to 16th century (765,
Kalpa Sutra , complete; ink, color, and gold on paper). The earliest Rajput schools
are to be found in Rajputana and, under Mughal influence, they attained a full and
characteristic expression by the early 17th century.
The Museum has a relatively large and continuous series of Rajputana miniatures
beginning with a page from a Malwa manuscript of 1634 (766, Krishna ). Pages
from the famous Coomaraswamy set of c. 1660-70 (767, Madhu Madhavi Ragini),
764
765 766 767 768
the “three tiered” manuscript of c. 1690 (768, Panchamo Ragini), a Narsingarh
manuscript by Madhava Das of 1 680 (769, Vangala Ragini), and a Jaipur page of
c. 1730 in delicate style (770, Palace Scene) are outstanding. All of these show the
typical brilliant and warm coloring of the school and represent the characteristic
Rajputana subject matter: illustrations to love lyrics which are both symbolic of the
devotional cult of Krishna, and of various musical modes associated with the months
and seasons. The later Rajputana school of Bundi is represented by one of its master¬
pieces, The Palace Ladies Hunting from a Pavilion (771), in which the fecundity of
nature is expressed through pairs of animals sporting in a richly detailed landscape.
The second major division of Rajput painting is that of the Punjab hills in the 1 8th
and early 19th centuries, where the linear notes of Mughal art were developed in
expressive and lyrical ways. Here the life of Krishna was the subject, par excellence;
although the earliest page in the collections is a Basohli one of about 1690 repre¬
senting a Shaivite subject (772, Gajahamurti: Shiva and Parvati after the Death of the
Elephant Demon) in a free manner derived from Rajputana. The various Pahari schools
are well represented, beginning with one of the earlier Guler pages of c.l 765 (773,
Krishna Awaiting Radha) from the Coomaraswamy collection. The fully developed
Pahari manner, joyful if slightly wistful, is represented in a famous page of Durga
Slaying Mahisha (774); one can see a perfectly preserved example of gem-like
quality in another, the Toilette of Radha (775). Other miniatures and a large Natha-
dwara painting on cloth are exhibited, including over ten fine examples from the
Bickford collection. The Indian painting gallery also displays a set of four poly-
chromed wood reliefs (764) from a Gujarati Temple of the 16th or 17th century.
These reveal a particular charm in the depiction of forest animals.
773
774
Mughal painting is represented by 22 examples displaying the major styles under
successive reigns, and a full range of subject matter: portrait (782, Emperor Shah
Jahan), historical narrative (776, Page from Tar-ekh-i-alfi: History of a Thousand
Vears), (777, Siege of Arbela); animal portraiture (780, Imperial Rooster), and hunting
scenes (778). A beautifully preserved page from the Romance of the Amir Hamza
is lent by George P. Bickford. This huge “miniature” on linen from the manuscript
begun under Humayun (1530-40,55) and finished by Akbar (1555-1606) was an
early landmark of the Mughal School. Persian and Indian elements are mixed and
not always reconciled. Their reconciliation made the Mughal style which reached
great heights under Akbar and Jahangir (1606-27), as in the well preserved
pastoral of a Noble Inspecting his Herds (779), a marvel of probity of observation
and of uncanny control of the brush.
The decorative arts of this period are much admired for their technique, their
formal yet rich design, and their remarkably vivid use of color. Work in the Mughal
manner (784, Millefleurs Carpet , silk), or in the Rajput style (783, Equestrian Proces¬
sion , diasper silk), can be found in the collections as well as an outstanding group of
jewelry in silver, gold, enamel, and precious stones (781, Pendant , champleve
enamel).
While the urban culture, religion, and art of Southeast Asia and Indonesia were
initially the result of Indian Hindu and Buddhist penetration, the native strains proved
to be hardy and the arts of this region, particularly those of Cambodia and Java,
have an originality and appeal that conquered Western interest from the re¬
discovery of Angkor Vat in the 19th century to the present day. The Museum’s
776 777 778 779 780
collection from these regions is not numerically large, but in quality and importance
it ranks as one of the finest in the world.
The early styles of all these regions is largely influenced by Indian Gupta style,
and 6th century southern Siam and Cambodia produced numerous free-standing
Buddhist images which already suggest the broad jungle sensuality which is charac¬
teristic of later Cambodian and Cham art (785, Head of a Buddha, sandstone).
While Siamese artists, represented in the Museum by several examples in bronze
and stone, moved on to rigidly stylized shapes, the Cambodians developed in a
freer and larger manner The first phase of this style in sculpture can be seen in
two major pieces of the early 8th century, both representing Vishnu with a unique
combination of massive geometry and suave sensuality in sandstone which is the
dominant local stone (786).
After this the characteristic smiling countenance of Cambodian sculpture begins to
be feft, as in the early 10th century masterpiece of Koh Ker type (787), a head which
once belonged to Louis Delaporte and so was one of the Cambodian sculptures
known earliest to the West, The next architectural monuments, such as Bantei Srei,
(788, Sh/VaJ, prepare the way for the fully developed classic style of Angkor, repre¬
sented here by an excellent series beginning with a small bronze image of the
Buddha Enthroned (790), of the period of Angkor Vat and the reign of Suryavar-
man II (c, 1112-53) and moving on to a group of four pieces from Angkor Thom.
Of these, Buddhist Head (789) displays the full smile of Angkor; a Fn'eze of Heavenly
Dancers (791) charmingly documents the close connections of the dance and sculpture.
785
786 787 788 789
790 791
and □ third is a rare and perfect bust of a Princess (792) from the famous "Terrace
of the Leper King. 3 ’ The mixture of Buddhist and Hindu iconography is characteristic
of the syncretic efforts of the last great God-King of Cambodia, Jayavarman VII
(c. 1181-?)*
The art of the related and rival kingdom of Champa is represented by one of the
very few complete images of the Dong-DuVong period (8th-9th centuries) when the
almost brutally strong native expression reached its apex in impassive, block-like
figures of the dominant deity, Sh/va (793),
The art of Java, best known through the huge volcanic stone monument of Borobu-
dur (c, 850), is represented by four important sculptures, one of them a Head of a
Buddha (795) from that great image of the world-mountain itself. Another example,
a large, deeply cut relief, shows the slightly later style under native rule after the
fall of the Sumatran Shailendra Dynasty (c. 860) and is probably from the Pram-
banam region. Of the bronzes, one is a perfect expression of Shailendra style under
strong Indian influence (794, Padmapan/), while the second is a seated esoteric
Buddhist figure (not Illus.) produced under the native restoration (860-915), Two
other significant Buddhist bronzes of the Borobudur period, an Akshobya and an
Avalokiteshvara, are lent from the Bickford collection.
792
793
794
795
.4k.
796
797
7 98
799
CHINA
The Chinese collection is the most extensive representation of a non-European
culture in the Museum; and this is proper homage to that country's unique cultural
continuity reaching over three thousand years into the past* While the earliest arti¬
facts from the upper reaches of the Yellow River date from the third millenium, the
most important of these neolithic art forms, pointed earthenware pots with geometric
designs (796), seem related more to Western Asian, than to succeeding and distinc¬
tive Chinese forms* The end of the Shang Dynasty (1766-1027 B.C.) witnessed the
remarkable flowering of a war-like Bronze Age culture which was technically and
imaginatively unmatched by any other comparable workers in bronze* Weapons
(797) seem to have been the means by which bronze technique was imported from
the West via Siberia; but the most characteristic Shang bronzes are the vessels
used in religious rituals centering about presently unknown dieties and clan or
family ancestors* Some rare vessels are in animal or bird forms (798, Yu}, but the
more typical examples are utilitarian in shape and decorated with elaborate cast
designs of stylized animal motifs {799, Tsun). The dominant motif of this powerful
language of design was the Vao-fteh, a feline or bovine mask with glowering eyes*
This can be seen on the Tsun (799); in another medium, marble (800), it appears as
an isolated design worked In the most delicate and demanding of Shang stone
techniques, thread relief* This precise delicacy was even more essential for work in
that characteristically Chinese material, jade* Despite the small size of the jade
amulets and ornaments (801), they reveal the same powerful propitiation of awe¬
some forces as do the bronzes; and the Museum's 39 archaic jades trace the early
art of jade from Shang through later dynasties*
800
801
802
803 804 805
The Early Chou period (1027-900 B.C.) continues Shang styles and shapes ( Tsun,
not illus.), but the succeeding Middle Chou period (900-771 B.C.) marks a radical
change to new heavier shapes and a more severe treatment of surfaces and orna¬
mentation, both in bronze (802, Hu) and jade (Pi and Tsung: Heaven and Earth
symbols, not illus.). The Late Chou period, particularly in the Epoch of Warring States
(480-222 B.C.), returns to more complicated forms and techniques. The bronze
dragon-bird finial (803) from Chin Ts’un shows these almost playful complications
in sculptural forms enhanced by inlays of gold, silver, copper, and electrum. The
honey jade plaque (804), perhaps from Ch’ang Sha, uses familiar interlaces while
retaining the T'ao-t'ieh motif in silhouette. The Late Chou period was one of geo¬
graphic expansion, and quantities of material have been excavated in the South.
From there comes the largest and most important of all early Chinese wood sculp¬
tures, the famous lacquered Cranes and Snakes (805) from Ch'ang-sha. This object,
perhaps a drum stand or a protective totem, is one of numerous works in lacquer
which appear for the first time in this remarkable period. The social ferment which
produced Confucius and Lao-tse, as well as the beginnings of Chinese unification,
seems to have been part of an over-all activity which produced innovations in
various techniques. Earthenware had been known since neolithic times and the old
techniques were used for new forms such as stamped tomb tiles (806). But the great
ceramic innovation, perhaps anticipated in Shang times, was the invention of glaze
(glass in bead form is also found), at first through the use of ash flux on a porce-
laneous body, as in the Hu (807) which may date as early as the 3rd century B.C.
The use of this glaze, which is a major step towards the creation of porcelain,
antedates the use of the lead glaze which was probably introduced into China
from the Mediterranean region in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 220). Vessels
806 807 808
809 8io an
with this type of glaze (808) often possess a charming, if unintentional iridescence
due to the less stable nature of the lead glaze under burial conditions. Other Han
lead glazed vessels often imitate bronze shapes and have elaborately molded
(809, t/en) designs that combine magical figures of animals and humans with
elementary landscape setting of rhythmically repeated mountain peaks and trees
developing earlier motifs of the Late Chou period. The missing top of the L/en was
slightly conical with the peaks of the magical world mountain as a cap. The most
interesting metal products of the Han period are the bronze mirrors. The Museum
possesses 11 mirrors of Late Chou, Han, and T'ang date. The backs are elaborately
decorated with geometric and, at a later date, naturalistic designs with magical
purposes. The so-called TLV type (810) reproduces in part an astronomical diagram
of the universe with the animals of the various directions depicted in a refined thread
relief achieved by casting in a stone mold.
The Han Dynasty was a time of growing interest in natural appearances, par¬
ticularly in scenes of everyday life. Small pottery tomb figures (not illus.) of people
and animals were made as well as pottery stove models decorated with magical
scenes in relief (811). But according to literary sources, as well as by inference from
sculptural remains, the great achievements in the direction of sophisticated represen¬
tation were in painting. Unfortunately pitifully little Han or earlier painting has
survived* The Museum possesses two of the more important known documents of Han
painting, a pair of shells with the interior painted in red and black with hunting
scenes (812); and a sfip-covered tile with three human figures in a landscape setting,
also in red and black (813). The shells show elaborate and lively compositions
involving chariots, horses, men, deer, tiger, boar, birds, and trees, conceived as a
812
813
i
814 815 816
compositional and psychological unity. They may even date back to the Warring
States period. The painted tile is less complex but still displays unity in shallow space
and an organically convincing tree symbol. Both of these early paintings are by no
means archaic, for the fluent brush work and the sophisticated rendering of human
and animal figures imply a considerable previous development.
The traditional date for the introduction of Buddhism into China is 68 A.D., but
the arrival of Buddhism as a potent social and artistic force was delayed until the
break up of the centralized Han empire led to a period of political disunion called
the “Six Dynasties” period (220-589). Buddhist art flourished particularly in the
North, and in the 5th and 6th centuries there was a tremendous output of figural
sculpture and painting. The earliest sculptures of the 5th century, such as the gilt
and inlaid bronze of the New Born Buddha (814) with its un-Chinese iconic rigidity
and non-linear modeling are derived from Indian and Central Asian prototypes.
The new iconography of the imported religion was fluently assimilated and by the
end of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-535) a typically Chinese style was achieved
—elongated, flame-like, and exquisitely detailed. Whether in the large rock-hewn
cave figures (818, fragment from Lung Men cave), or in the smaller free standing
stone steles (815) derived from the traditional Chinese memorial tablet, a smiling
beatitude rules the countenance while a flame-like linear rhythm controls draperies
and ornament.
The ancient Chinese animal style was by no means dead. Demons and monsters
filled the secondary levels of most sculptural ensembles, whether as an applique in
gilt bronze (816) or as caryatids for architectural units in the great cave temples, in
this case (817) those of Hsian T’ang Shan dating from the Northern Ch'i Dynasty
817 818 819 820
821 822 823 824
(550-577). These monsters convey a feeling of power and energy quite unlike the
quiet reverie of the principal religious images of the same period (819). This particu¬
lar white marble stele retains some of its original polychrome and is worked in great
detail on both sides with some 36 figures represented in low relief.
Numerous other objects of the “Six Dynasties” are exhibited, principally utilitarian
ceramics and the ever present grave figurines (820) of polychromed gray earthen¬
ware.
The brief Sui Dynasty (581-61 8) re-unified China and was succeeded by the long
and glorious T J ang Dynasty (618-907) when China reached its greatest height of
military power and its farthest geographical extension, from Korea south to Indo-
China, from the Sea of Japan west to the Caspian Sea. In this worldly and luxurious
time Buddhist as well as secular art flourished and established a norm for figure
sculpture and figure painting that continued to dominate the religious art of China,
Korea, and Japan, for many centuries after the fall of T'ang. The new, rounded,
almost voluptuous manner can be seen in a small limestone corner sculpture with two
figures of the eleven-headed Kuan Yin, the Compassionate Bodbisaftva (822), On a
much larger scale, the marble torso (823) from Ting Chou presents the T T ang style
at its very best in a work which seems as approachable as a Greek marble of the
Golden Age. Figures appear to have been valued in relative isolation, for often
backgrounds are left plain (824) whereas earlier an elaborate ornamental back¬
ground would have been provided. The new and rare technique of dry lacquer—
the figures were hollow with only a molded skin of alternate layers of cloth and
lacquer—was used for large and small religious images (825), The twisting move¬
ment of this Dancing Apsaras (Angel) was a favorite motif in the later T’ang Dynasty,
825 826 827
828 829 830 831
again catering to an interest in sculpture in the full round. Tang gilt bronzes (826,
Am/fab/ia) often display the same classic qualities already seen. This seated image
may well be of a slightly later date in the Northern “barbarian” Liao Dynasty
(907-1 125) where Fang style was continued with little loss of quality.
The tomb figurines of the period developed into full blown ceramic sculpture, often
glazed in brown, green, yellow, or blue lead glazes, which were used for vessels as
well (821). Tang animal figurines are justly famous for their naturalism and their
often vigorous movement (827, ung/azed). The glazed terra-cotta Harpist (828)
shows the Fang feminine ideal in all its plump charm. The most famous of all the
figurine categories is that of the horse, and the T'ang ceramic sculptor created
numerous large figures (829) which have achieved the stature of archetypes.
in the “Six Dynasties," Sui, and T’ang periods useful ceramics developed steadily
towards the ceramic ideal of porcelain. In the South the green-brown glazed stone¬
wares of the Yueh kilns (not illus.) provided the foundation of the later celadon
tradition. In the North, a white stoneware was produced at least by the Sui Dynasty
(830) and was further developed in the full blown shapes of the early T’ang
Dynasty (831). Some rare T’ang stonewares, In this case from the South, ore vessels
with figure! shapes of the utmost sophistication (832). By the end of the dynasty a
white porcelain, Hstng ware and its variants, was made both in ceramic shapes
(833), and others imitating metal (not illus.). The incised and stamped decoration of
the jar is in a manner derived from beautifully tooled vessels of gilt silver (834) and
gold which often have shapes like those from Sassanian Persia. The combination of
white porcelain and incised design beneath the glaze was to lead to one of the
classic northern porcelains of the succeeding dynasty*
833
4
834
835
836 837 838 839 840
The politically weak Sung Dynasty (960-1279) is the golden period of Chinese
ceramics, both for porcelains of the greatest refinement and for common stonewares
of great technical ingenuity and robust decoration. Most of these latter wares were
made in the North of a buff or gray stoneware with slip decoration and can be
grouped under the generic classification "Tz 5 u Chou ware/ 1 from the name of the
great center in Chihfi province* The Museum has an especially fine group of Tz s u
Chou ware. The earliest of these wares, perhaps as early as the 10th century, use
T’ang style shapes with incised and inlaid decoration in a metalwork manner (835,
from Chiao Tso?). Another early Tz'u Chou piece, a ewer for wine or tea (836),
illustrates a second form of slip decoration, deeply carved and incised through an
unusually thick layer of cream-colored slip over the tan stoneware body. This
technique could achieve a reverse effect by using brown slip as the major covering
color, and where the tan body was exposed by the carver's knife, the cream-colored
slip was sometimes used as a covering agent (837)* The shape of this vase, called a
meipmg gallipot, is typical of developed Sung form with subtle transitions from
shoulder to body and without a noticeable break at the foot. The most fluid of the
Tz T u Chou techniques was that of painting with a dark slip over a cream-colored
ground (838), allowing free play for the flexible brush. Pictorial designs, often on
pillows (not illus,) were also used. Color, green (839), red, and yellow (not illus*),
sometimes was used, again with bold and florid effects, A certain roughening of
technique in this northern ware can be seen as the Sung Dynasty continued (840), but
here the roughness is accompanied by an unusually bold and powerful shape, to
produce a unified work.
841
842
843
844 845 846
Ting ware, one of the six classic wares of Sung, developed from Hsing ware but
possessed even greater refinement both in the incised (841) or molded decoration
and in the brilliance and luster of the transparent glaze over the creamy white
porcelain body. Ten major examples show the full range of the ware. An olive green
celadon, called “Northern Celadon” by modern scholars, was made in Honan, and
seven variants of this are displayed including one famous piece (842) of a shape
similar to the Tz’u Chou ewer (835), which may be a rare example of Tung ware
made for the northern Court at the capitol, K’ai-feng. But the rarest of all these
northern wares was Ju ware, also made for the Court, with a bird’s-egg blue glaze
of great depth and softness and with a unique flaky crackle (843). Only a very few
pieces of Ju ware are to be found today. The blue glaze appears to be derived
from another classic northern ware, Chun ware. Thirty examples of Chun display
the known variations from the soft powdery blues and purples of the types (844)
to the metallic freely-thrown shapes of great perfection, usually covered with liver
red on the outside and with blue to purple shades inside (845).
Southern China in the Sung Dynasty also made a white ware with incised designs
now called Ch’ing pai (846). Despite its extraordinary thinness, this pale bluish-white
porcelain seems to have been a fairly common ware and was exported to Japan,
Korea, and Indonesia. The classic ware of South China was called Lung Ch’uan from
the name of the principal kiln site in Chekiang province, and was known early to
the west as “celadon.” Ranging in color from gray-green through sea-green to a
blue-green, this sturdy porcelain was used for both Court and commoner, but in
varying qualities. The two finest of the Museum’s examples show the full subtlety of
Southern Sung Imperial taste (847, Ting: tripod; 848, Tsun). The shapes, though
fully clay-like, are derived from archaic bronzes and attest to the learned archaism
847 848 849
850
851
of the Court, This particular taste may also account for the success of the green
glazes since they rival jade in color, texture, and depth; for jade was one of the
most precious of materials, whether in an ancient relic or in a newly-created object
The culmination of these interests and of the art of the Chinese potter in the Sung
Dynasty was in a group of wares with a common name, Kuan (Official or Imperial),
and with a family resemblance in their celadon type glazes with a marked and
purposeful crackle. Examples of Kuan ware are extremely rare but the Museum’s
group of 16 pieces is unmatched save for the Sir Percival David collection in London,
and the Palace collection, now in Taiwan. For sheer sensuous delight one can hardly
match the brilliant blue-green of the massive basin (849) from the Phoenix Hill kiln,
(Hangchou), the / with its fish-shaped handles (850), pale blue-gray glaze, and
almost feminine delicacy, or the simply shaped lotus bowl with its warm gray
crackled glaze (851), These great ceramics illustrate well the perfection of that
seemingly impossible combination of rationality and voluptuousness which was the
Chinese scholar-gentleman's ideal.
The Sung painters were both preservers and innovators, maintaining the great
figure style of the T T ang Dynasty and creating the first great style of landscape
painting the world had ever known. The handscroll (852) attributed to Chao Kuang
fu (late I Gth-early 1 1th century), is a rare vision of T’ang individual characterization
in a category of painting that received special attention—paintings of barbarians
and foreigners. The well preserved colors on the silk add to the differentiation of
the barbarian chiefs shown as they approach Shakyamuni Buddha attended by the
faithful disciples Ananda and Kasyapa and two powerful guardians. The composi¬
tion is typical of 9th and 10th century Buddhist painting as seen at the few remaining
852
853
cave sites in northwest China. The handscroll was formerly in the collection of the Yuan
Dynasty Emperor Wen Tsung (1304-32) and of the Ch’ien Lung Emperor (1736-96),
In the 10th and 1 1th centuries the Chinese speculative theories of nature attained
their highest reaches, reconciling the rectitude of nature in the interrelationships of
Heaven, Earth, and Man as expressed in Li or "principle/' with the direct and keen
observation of nature as it existed. These pre-conditions for the fulfillment of great
landscape painting were also due to the gradual decline of Buddhism from its
position as the dominant inspirational influence in Chinese belief. From the 10th
century on, the rise of landscape is meteoric and great masterpieces were produced
in the various available formats: wall painting, hanging scrolls, handscrolls, and
album leaves. While the Museum does not yet have a monumental hanging scroll,
it is fortunate in having two of the most interesting known handscrolls, each in a
different and important style.
The anonymous Streams and Mountains Without End (853, ink and slight color on
silk) of the first quarter of the 1 2th century, is a virtual summary of previous accom¬
plishments. Rationally organized with almost a musical continuity, it is in turn, lyrical,
descriptive, and monumental. The ebb and flow of the trees, villages, valleys, and
mountains, give the effect of a microcosm. In the words of one of the nine attached
colophons: "Who has swept over this river with a painting brush, forming a picture
of wind and mist that stretches over a thousand miles?" The scenery depicted is that
of North China and despite the "moistly rich" ink, the impression is that of vast
distances, clear atmosphere, and sharp, realistic detail. In contrast to this the second
handscroll Cloudy Mountains (854) by Mi Yu-jen, dated 1131, shows a southern
854
landscape. The low-lying hills with their gentle contours and enfolding clouds of mist
are characteristic of the coastal regions. The style too is radically different, for Mi
Yu-jen used the technique of his father, the great innovator Mi Fei, building up the
rich tone and compact solidity of the hills with massed strokes of ink. Details are
deliberately simplified and one does not read each part rationally, but takes in
the whole in an almost Intuitive way. The later landscapes of the Sung Dynasty
develop along these intuitive and romantic lines and are represented in the Oriental
collection by one album leaf (not illus.) in the style of Ma Lin (active c.1250), Late
Sung figure and animal painting is shown by one fine album leaf of a Tartar hunting
scene, very close to the work of the early 13th century painter Chen Chu-chung
(not illus,).
The succeeding Yuan Dynasty (1 280-1 368) was a period of foreign Mongol rule.
The native scholar's distaste for this court was expressed in part by new attitudes in
art. The ideal now was the sage-scholar-painter, aloof from the “dusty” world of
affairs, immersed in the wholesome world of nature and brush work, and expressing
his allegiance to himself and to his friends through painting. While traditionalists and
professional painters continued the older styles, the creative minds of the period
sought new methods: surer, more abstract brushwork, less realistic compositions,
emphasis on a more personal handling and mood. The Scho/ars Leisure by Yao
Ting-mei (855), dated 1360, is wholly in the new mode, both in subject and tech¬
nique, Painted in ink on paper, the scroti reveals a more specialized interest in
textured brushwork and in a closely knit texture which is organized in swirling
masses of tone. This picture was a famous one—there are no less than 23 colophons
praising the ideals implicit in the subject,
856 357 858
859 860 861 862
Virtuosity of brushwork was traditionally expressed in bamboo painting, and
there were numerous specialists in this subject during the dynasty. The priest P’u-ming
(active c. 1 350) was one of these and his style, seen on silk in Bamboo in the Wind
(856), was based on that of the famous early Yuan master Chao Meng-fu whose
“flying white” dry-brushwork can be seen in the depiction of the rocks. The bamboo
proper is in an especially rich, dark ink, and very well preserved.
The decorative arts of the Yuan Dynasty largely continued the modes of the Sung
period. For example, Tz’u Chou ware continued to be made with a preference for
the painted slip type (857). The more pictorial treatment of the dragon and phoenix
design, as well as the distinctive shape, is to be found in the contemporary porcelains
with the earliest decoration in underglaze blue and white. Decoration begins to
dominate shape from this time on.
The Museum possesses a rare and important group of Tang, Sung, and Yuan,
jades. One of these, a white bowl (858) of the 13th or 14th century seems to be
mate to a piece still in the Palace collection with a decoration of figures in low relief
and with two handles in the form of court ladies.
The return to power of a native dynasty, the Ming (1 368-1644), was accompanied
by the gradual triumph of the Yuan “scholarly” style in painting. Most of the creative
painters worked in the new manner and they in turn tended to look down on the
Southern Sung style perpetuated by the professionals, called "mere artisans.” Still
the conservative style was capable of high achievement in the hands of some of
the Che School painters of the 15th and early 16th centuries. While Tai Chin, the
most famous of these men, is represented by a long handscroll of Ten Thousand Miles
of the Yangtze (not illus.), the most interesting Che painting in the Museum is the
863 864
865 866 867
hanging scroll Wondering in the Moonlight (859) by the rare master Tu Chin (active
c, 1465-87) with his characteristic crackling brushwork, The Ming scholarly style is
represented by a delicately painted and poetic handscroll Parting of Hsun Yang
(not illus.) by Wen Po-jen (1502-75), and by the bold and abbreviated Thin Forest
and Distant Mountains (860) by Li Liu-fang (1575-1629).
The most interesting porcelains of the early Ming period are the Imperial wares
made at the official kilns at Ching-te-chen in Kiangsi province. These are of three
principal types: monochromes, usually yellow, red, white, or blue; white porcelains
with decoration in underglaze blue; and white porcelain with decoration in under¬
glaze blue and overglaze enamels, usually red, yellow, or green. The first of these
categories is represented by one important specimen of the Yung Lo reign (1 403*24),
a white tripod (861, Chueb) with the typical bluish tinge to the white and with a
slightly gray paste. The second group is well represented by five pieces of the
Yung Lo, Hsuan Te (1426*35), and Cheng Te (1506-21) reigns. The large plate
(863) is perhaps the finest known specimen with the grape and wave design, and
the Dice Bowl with the Three Friends: prunus, pine, and bamboo (864), is one of a few
with this strongly drawn design. The third category is shown by three splendid
pieces: a Hsuan Te stem cup (862) with fantastic animals in red enamel on an under¬
glaze blue sea; the rarest of the rare, a Cheng Hua (1465-87) wine cup (865) with
decoration in three-color enamels; and a covered jar (866) of the Wan Li reign
(1573-1619), with brilliant decoration in five-color enamels.
Similar decorative styles on a slightly lesser technical level were used by the
many private and commercial kilns of the Ming Dynasty. The Tien Ch'i period (1621-
27), in particular, produced remarkable large and boldly decorated porcelains
868 869 870 871
V
■M
&
r
Ml
i *
^ i< 4* 4
872
(867) which were exported throughout the Far East. These were made in Southern
Fukien near the trade ports, as were the famous white porcelains of Te Hua the
later Ming period, called fa/anc de chine by the West. The Museum collection is rich
in this ware and possesses one of the finest known b/anc de chine figurines, a Seated
Kuan Yin (868) formed with almost unbelievable refinement of detail.
A separate group of ceramics, some Imperial and others evidently not, are called
San-t’sai (three-color) and range in date from the late 14th to the early 16th
century. The Museum has a good selection of these brilliantly colored vases with
their aubergine, turquoise, and yellow glazes enclosed in cloisons, the earliest
being a noble Meiping (869).
Other decorative arts of the Ming Dynasty are exhibited including jade, furniture
(873), and textiles, notably an unusually large and well preserved K’o-ssu (silk
tapestry) panel (870) with a colorful pattern of phoenix, clouds, peonies, and rocks.
The Ch’ing (1644-1912), like the Yuan, was a foreign dynasty and the time of
troubles that preceded and accompanied the Manchu triumph led to an important
cultural revolt on the part of the scholarly official class. The results of this intellectual
revolt were nowhere more important than in painting. The “Individualists” of the
17th century are among the most interesting and unusual painters in the history of
Chinese painting and fortunately the Museum owns a good representation of their
work. The most individual and outspoken of all these masters, Tao-chi (before 1 645-
after 1704), is represented by two works, a powerful monochrome handscroll,
Rocks , Orchids , and Bamboo (not illus.) and an idyllic, warmly colored hanging scroll
Spring on the Min River (871) with an important dated poem (1 697). Here traditional
rationalism and orthodox brush-manners are ignored in favor of a personal state-
873 874 875
880
876
ment, subtle in color and tone, daring and irrational in composition. A second great
individualist was Chu Ta (1626-1705), a scion of the former Imperial family, who
painted in a rather spare but rapidly brushed manner with humorous overtones not
devoid of cynicism* His most typical manner is seen in the short monochrome hand-
scroll Fish and Rocks (872) with a sequence of three short poems which are carefully
integrated, visually and intellectually, with the painting. The progression from the
dry overhanging rock on the right to the fish and the lotus bed on the left accompanies
the poetic sequence from a dry and "dusty” world to a Buddhist haven* The brilliance
and wit of the scroll, achieved with cunning haste, reveals Chu Ta at his best. A
second work by this unusual artist is in the form of a landscape in the "style” of the
Northern Sung master, Kuo Chung-shu (not illus.). The deliberately but roughly
constructed monumentally of this hanging scroll is relatively rare in Chu Ta's work
and while more difficult to appreciate than those works in his typical manner, seems
a genuine "re-creation" of the monumental ideals of the 10th century.
An important group of individualists was to be found in Anhui province, with its
beautiful Yellow Mountains. Ch T a Shlh-piao (1615-98) was one of these, and his
numerous works are characterized by free and easy, almost casual, brushwork,
charming color, and a usually carefree atmosphere. A twelve-leaf album (874)
reveals a wide range of landscape subject matter in this particularly intimate book¬
like format, A second Anhui painter was Hsiao Yun-ts ! ung (1 596-1 673), represented
here by two important works. A little eight-page album (875) was painted in 1 668,
and Hsiao’s characteristic tart colors and crisp brushwork are wonderfully preserved.
Eight poems accompany the paintings and are especially aloof examples of
"gentleman's'’ poetry* The Jong handscroll in color on paper called Cfeor Sounds
Among Hills and Waters (876), is one of his most important works and reveals
877
879
878
The orthodox painters of the Ch’ing Dynasty followed the Yuan scholarly style
with an emphasis on correct brushwork and careful composition. The most famous of
this group were the “Four Wangs" and the Museum has two important paintings
by two of the four: Bamboo Grove and Distant Mountains, dated 1694, (877) by
Wang Hui (1632-1717); and the colored landscape in the style of Ni Tsan, dated
1 707 (878) by Wang Yuan-ch’i (1 642-171 5). Intermediate between the individual¬
ists and the orthodox artists was the Jesuit convert Wu Li (1632-1718), and his
Reciting Poetry Before The Yellowing of Autumn (879) is a closely knit, sharply
detailed, but monumental example of his style. One of the most satisfying and well
known individualist paintings of the 1 8th century is Conversation in Autumn, dated
1 732 (880), by the Yangchou master Hua Yen (1 680-1755); and an unusual compo¬
sition by the Korean-born Li Shih-cho (active c. 1741), Landscape with a Waterfall
(881), offers proof of occasional creativity within the orthodox style.
The Imperial porcelains of the Ch’ing Dynasty have been justly praised for the
unparalleled decorative qualities which endeared them to European high society in
the 1 8th century. This decorativeness was achieved through tremendous technical
virtuosity, particularly in obtaining unusually brilliant colors, whether over or under
the glaze. The Museum’s later Chinese porcelain collection, rich in examples from
all three of the great reigns, is especially well endowed with the porcelains of
the K’ang Hsi reign (1 662-1722). There are 17 examples of the copper-red glazed
Lang ware, called "ox-blood" (882) by Westerners; nine specimens of the over¬
glaze “apple green” enamels (883); ten of the small and hyper-refined underglaze
887 888 889 890
S91 892 898
copper reds called "peach bloom" (884), In addition to these there are others with
"clair de lune," "mirror black/ 1 Celadon, and other monochrome glazes. The deco¬
rated K’ang Hsi porcelains include all the known important types: "famille jaune”
(885), "famille verte" (886, 887), "famille noire" (not illus.), and numerous blue
and whites. The Yung Cheng reign (1723-35) is represented by many porcelains,
one of the most outstanding being a large "soft'paste" vase with decoration in
underglaze blue and white (888), The extremely delicate drawing and technical
precision of the Ch’ien Lung reign (1736-95) are perhaps best seen in the square
vase with "rouge de fer" handles, and decorated In black and colored enamels
(889) in the so-called Ku Hueh Hsuan (Ancient Moon Terrace) style. This ware was
rare in its own day, being made in very small numbers for the Palace,
Of the many examples of Ch'ien Lung decorative arts on exhibition, the remark¬
able green jade Kora (890), an Imperial piece with a T T ao T’leh design in thread
relief, is illustrated,
Korean art, save for the Celadon porcelains of the Korai period (918-1392), is
poorly represented in the West, The Museum has a large study collection of Korai
ceramics including a few outstanding pieces, notably the Celadon vase (891) in a
rare shape derived from the Ctiing pot wares of the Chinese Sung Dynasty, Korean
Buddhist art is shown by two important examplesi □ rare gilt and polychromed
bronze Triad of the late Korai period representing Shakyamuni, Kshitigarbha, and
the White-Robed Avalokiteshvara (892), and a large icon with color on silk, of the
same period, depicting Manjusri (893),
894
JAPAN
The beginnings of art in Japan are relatively late and obscure. The Stone Age
Jomon culture produced excellent clay vessels and a few figurines, sculptural and
elaborately decorated. After the second century A.D. there is an accelerated pace
and the Bronze Age culture which produced the finely cast Dotaku (bell) of bronze
(894) was succeeded by the prolific Haniwa culture which lasted until the introduction
of Buddhism from China and Korea in 552. Haniwa (circle of clay) figurines in terra
cotta (895) were used under the perimeters of burial mounds and are the most
original and remarkable products of a period which otherwise owed much to the
mainland in its working of iron, bronze, and semi-precious stones.
With the triumph of Buddhism under the sponsorship of the Prince Regent, Shotoku
Taishi (572-621), Chinese culture was imported wholesale to Japan and was rapidly
assimilated. Korean artists were the principal tutors in sculpture and the second
generation of Japanese artists began to surpass their teachers (896, Miroku: the
Buddha of the Future, bronze). Objects of these early periods—Asuka (552-646),
Hakuho (646-710), Tempyo (710-94)—are extremely rare and the Museum
possesses the outstanding collection in all the Occident. The great type site of the
Asuka style is Horyu-ji near Nara and from that temple the Museum has an extra¬
ordinarily well preserved figure from the canopies over the central dais, a Heavenly
Musician of polychromed camphor wood (897), dating from c. 700. The growing
sophistication of handling at the turn of the century is largely due to T’ang Dynasty
influence from China, (898, Kwannon: The Compassionate One, gilt bronze), which
dominates the Tempyo period. The clay mourning figures from the Nirvana groups
in the ground story of Horyu-ji’s three-storied pagoda (899) are like Chinese tomb
903 904 905
906 907 908 909 910 911
figurines. Wood sculptures of a semi-secular nature, such as in the 8th century Bigaku
dance masks (900) derived from Central Asia, or the late 8th century religious
images (903, Hand of Buddha?), reveal the growing amplitude of forms characteristic
of developed T’ang sculpture. Textiles known to us from the Shosoin (756 A.D.) in
Nora, were imported from China in large quantities and show the international
character of this 8th century culture whether in Chinese Style (902, Fragment, one
of 55 mounted as an album, twill damask, silk) or in Sassanian Persian style (901,
Fragment, diasper and compound cloth, silk).
After a brief period of relative austerity under the esoteric Buddhist sects,
Japanese artists turned to increasingly decorative and elegant modes under the
patronage of the pleasure-loving court of the Fujiwara period (888-1 1 85). Religious
objects could fittingly be decorated with butterflies (904, A/ms Bow/, giJt bronze),
and the once powerfully modeled masks became elegant and linear in effect [905,
Gyodo-Mask, polychromed wood).
Both rough and delicate modes are carried into the wood sculptures of the
Kamakura period (1186-1368) by the more traditional artists,either in the provinces—
(906, S/im/o Deity)} (908, Kara-s/i/shf Chinese Uon}-—where a rough but powerful
style can be found, or in the capital region where an elaborate decorative tech¬
nique of applied cut gold designs was developed and used on religious images
such as the Kwannon (907).
The traditional painters of the 1 3th century continued the decorative Fujiwara
style in Shinto icons (909, Kasuga Mandata), purely Buddhist moralizing pictures
[910, Nika Byakudo; The White Path Across Two Rivers), and in unusual landscape
912
913
914
icons attempting to reconcile the native Shinto cults with the Buddhist faith (911,
Kumano Mandala).
The same century saw the rise of two new modes of painting, both extremely
original and important for future developments. The decorative style of Fujiwara
was colorful but delicate. The Kamakura contribution was to strengthen the silhouette
and the interior drawing, as well as to emphasize the contrasts of pattern rather
than pattern itself. Sections from two scrolls, broken up long ago, confirm this power¬
ful decorative development—(912, The Poet Taira-no-Kanemori), (913, one of the
Ten Fast Bulls).
The second contribution of this realistic and military feudal period was narrative
illustration by means of long picture scrolls. The “Poet” and “Fast Bull” were
originally parts of handscrolls but each unit was relatively separate. The new style
was more continuous, either using longer sections separated by text (914, Yuzu
Nembutsu Engi: Roll Two), or by using continuous narration, with the text used in an
almost comic-strip manner as an integral part of the picture (915, Fukutomi Zoshi:
Roll Two), or by dispensing with text and depending upon a continuous composition.
In all cases the essence of the style was in the wealth of narrative detail and in the
vigorous, almost satirical style of the drawing. The style was used as a means of
proselytizing for a new and popular Buddhist sect as in the Yuzu Nembutsu Engi as
well as for such ribald, secular tales as that about Fukutomi which reminds one of
some of the tales of Chaucer. The narrative scroll style was a frank and unabashed
contribution of the Kamakura period.
By the end of the 1 3th century a new Chinese influence could be felt that was to
alter radically the established norms of Japanese painting. This was the monochrome
915
916 917 918 919 920
ink landscape style of the Southern Sung Dynasty* There is a great contrast when
the old Japanese style, as seen in a poetic religious vision (916, Raigo), in color
and gold on silk, is compared with the new Chinese austerity of tone and flexibility
of brush work in monochrome ink (917, White Robed Kwannon), which came with
the new Zen Buddhist subject matter.
But the most fashionable subject matter of the Ashikaga (1 368-1 568) monochrome
school was the Chinese landscape as seen in Chinese painting and used as a starting
point for characteristic Japanese extremes of technique: a detailed but rapid use
of the brush in sharp, staccato strokes (918, Lonely Temple and Towering Cliff), or
a highly abstract and ink-conscious mode where, in a sense, the brush uses the
painter (919, Haboku landscape). The first painting, close to Keishoki, has an
inscription by Priest Band of c. 1480, while the second is an old age masterpiece
of the great master Sesshu (1 420-1 506),
The Ashikaga monochrome artists also painted on pairs of folding screens,
usually, with six panels on each screen. While folding screens were known in the 8th
century, not until the 15th and 16th centuries were they standardized in size and
exploited to any considerable degree. Monochrome screens in Chinese style are
represented in the Museum collection by a fine Kokei Sansho : The Three Laughers in
Tiger Valley , attributed to Kano Hideyori [d f 1557) (not iflus.); and the even rarer
Ashikaga screens in traditional Tosa narrative style can be seen in an anonymous
masterpiece (920, Horses and Attendants),
Using the screen format, the painters of the Momoyama (1568-1615) and
Tokugawa (1615-1867) periods produced some of the greatest decorative pictures
in the history of art. With brilliant color and gold, bold patterning and silhouette,
921 922
923 924
Sotatsu and his followers, Roshu, Korin, Shiko, and Hoitsu, achieved levels of abstract
decorative beauty akin to those of modern Western art. Whether on a small scale
[921, ise Monogatori; The Beach at Sumyoshi) or a large one [923, Sano-rro- Watari:
Crossing at Scmo), Sotatsu exploited the Fujiwara and Kamakura styles with a flowing
Ashikaga technique. His pupil, the almost unknown Roshu, is particularly original in
his handling of color in Ufsunoyama: The Pass through the Mountains (922); while the
masterpiece of Watanabe Shiko (1683-1755), irises (924), is not only an original
handling of an old theme, but is one of the best preserved of remaining fine screens.
Two important collections are not illustrated here. The D. Z, Norton collection of
some 48 mirrors and 307 sword guards shows the development of Japanese design
in those formats from the Fujiwara period until modern times. The Edward L. Whitte-
more collection of 50 woodblock prints provides a well selected synopsis of the
development of Ukiyo-e style in Japan from the “primivites 11 of the fate 17th century
through such great names as Sharaku, Kiyonaga, Utamaro, Hokusai, and Hiroshige.
.NOTES .
, NOTES .
.NOTES.
. NOTES .
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